Re: fish oil supplements

[Guest guest]

Anyone have suggestions on how to overcome the fish breath issue?

Maybe I was using the wrong brand, type, dose???

You can get ones that have been 'deodourised', at least you can in the UK.

Hope you can find it!!

Barbara (UK)

[Guest guest]

One of my docs ordered fish oil capsules that tasted like strawberries

online. I don't know what the website was but maybe you can search for

them.

On Wednesday, May 3, 2006, at 11:29 AM, patanddebbiefoley wrote:

> I understand the facts about omega-3 fatty acids, and tried fish oil

> capsules a few months ago. I had horrible problems digesting them, I

> kept burping and constantly had fish-odor breath.

> My sarcastic doctor says you can always tell who's supplementing with

> the omega-3: they're the ones in the waiting room that nobody wants to

> sit near.

> Anyone have suggestions on how to overcome the fish breath issue?

> Maybe I was using the wrong brand, type, dose???

>

> Debbie in Seattle

> UC '72, J-Pouch '91, PSC '05

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[Guest guest]

The ones I got are " enteric coated " so they don't get digested 'till

lower down in the GI tract... I haven't had any problems at all with

fishy smell...

I'm taking Spring Valley Enteric Coated Fish Oil.... three 1000 mg

capsules a day, which is the dose recommended on the bottle. I got them

at Wal-Mart. I also had some flax oil that my wife got sitting around

so I'm taking a couple of those each day too.

Anyone else want to contribute what dose of fish oil they're using, or

what dosages were used in studies etc.?

athan

[Guest guest]

Debbie,

I recommend that you try another brand. I have an aversion to fish, and I

can not stomach the thought or smell of eating fish, so I thought that I

would not be able to handle fish oil capsules. However, I have been taking

Nordic Naturals EPA soft gels, and I can promise you that I have no burping

or fish-odor breath. You can buy these at a natural foods store. Some

other members might have other brands to recommend.

Ricky

fish oil supplements

>I understand the facts about omega-3 fatty acids, and tried fish oil

> capsules a few months ago. I had horrible problems digesting them, I

> kept burping and constantly had fish-odor breath.

> > Debbie in Seattle

> UC '72, J-Pouch '91, PSC '05

>

>

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Debbie,

I take Fisol from Nature's Way, which is also enteric coated, and have had good luck with no adverse side effects.

Jeff in FL

PSC 1989

I understand the facts about omega-3 fatty acids, and tried fish oil capsules a few months ago. I had horrible problems digesting them, I kept burping and constantly had fish-odor breath. My sarcastic doctor says you can always tell who's supplementing with the omega-3: they're the ones in the waiting room that nobody wants to sit near.Anyone have suggestions on how to overcome the fish breath issue? Maybe I was using the wrong brand, type, dose???Debbie in SeattleUC '72, J-Pouch '91, PSC '05

[Guest guest]

> Anyone else want to contribute what dose of fish oil they're

using, or what dosages were used in studies etc.?

Hi athan;

You're lab result changes since taking fish oils are really quite

remarkable!

Our son started out on 1 x 1000 mg per day, then went up to 2 x 1000

mg per day after a few months, with no adverse effects. Mostly he's

seen a decline in alkaline phosphatase from about ~350 to ~220 over

the past year [his ALT and AST were already near normal due to

ursodiol therapy]. I'm curious if others have seen improvement in

alkaline phsophatase? Unexpectedly, our son saw an improvement in

his facial acne when he started taking fish oils ... this was a big

deal for him .... he's been struggling with acne for years ... and

it was his acne that led to his PSC diagnosis [i.e. background liver

function tests were done prior to initiating " accutane " therapy for

acne ... he never started on " accutane " because of already elevated

LFTs].

There was a recent symposium on omega-3 fatty acids, and the meeting

highlights are summarized here:

MedGenMed. 2005 Oct 19;7(4):18.

Omega-3 fatty acids: recommendations for therapeutics and prevention.

Hutchins H.

PMID: 16614640

The full text is available at Medscape:

http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/4605_pnt

Best regards,

Dave

(father of (20); PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)

[Guest guest]

Your doc is funny, but seriously, the EPA softgels from Spectrum

Essentials that I use are odorless. I take 2/day 500mg of Cod liver

oil containing 240mg DHA, 150 mg EPA. I moved to this from Spectrum

Fish Oil containing 240mg DHA, 360mg EPA. I was going to join a

clinical trial for DHA alone, and the researcher ( Freedman)

said that the EPA competes out the DHA, and EPA isn't effective in

their mouse studies. It turns out my liver function is too good for

the trial in any case- they want Alk Phos over 200. Fish burps was

listed as one of the possible side effects of the dosage they were

using (800 mg/day DHA). He said it was less than one serving of salmon

would give you. I couldn't find DHA only, and was a little concerned

about ordering on line. I don't entirely trust the (unregulated)

supplements industry to put what's on the label into the bottle.

Martha (MA)

43, UC 1979, PSC 1992

> My sarcastic doctor says you can always tell who's supplementing with

> the omega-3: they're the ones in the waiting room that nobody wants to

> sit near.

> Debbie in Seattle

> UC '72, J-Pouch '91, PSC '05

>

[Guest guest]

Dave and others,

I thought was taking the Carlson Super omega 3 - which each capsule has 1000mg of fish oils, but 200mg of DHA and 300mg of EPA.

In any case, do you mean 2 x 1000mg of fish oil is what he is taking or:

2 x 1000mg of DHA (which would be 10 Capsules a day!)

I inquired to Steve Freedman about their DHA Study and a research coordinator got back to me with the dosage information they were using in their study:

"Dr. Steve Freedman has asked me to forward you some information on the study with DHA in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. I have attached the Inform Consent for you to review - this explains the study and gives you guidelines for inclusion and exclusions criteria. I also received your question regarding "what is the range of dosage being considered in this research" and the dose is the 1.6g DHA/day + dietary amount. We chose the DHA dose based on what people can tolerate."

1.6 G/day is a lot more fish oil that the bottle says for most of the brands I saw in the stores. On average the DHA content per capsule was between 100mg and 300mg with the enteric coated ones having the smallest amounts of DHA/EPA. Paying attention to the labeling is important, the ones I am taking now have 240mg or DHA per serving, but a "serving" is two capsules. It makes it really hard to compare one brand to the next. In my case I would have to take 14 capsules a day to get the 1.6g dose like the study. That's a lot of oil.

Do I have my math right here? 1.6g = 1600mg right?

For the folks taking the enteric coated - how many are you taking? Any idea how much DHA?

I too saw a reduction in labs after starting on the Fish oil supplementation even though it seems now like I am not taking enough.

Mike Z

>>> 5/3/2006 10:39 pm >>>> Anyone else want to contribute what dose of fish oil they're using, or what dosages were used in studies etc.?Our son started out on 1 x 1000 mg per day, then went up to 2 x 1000 mg per day after a few months,

[Guest guest]

Hi Mike;

Yes, is taking 2 x 1000 mg fish oil capsules daily, with each

capsule containing 200 mg DHA + 300 mg EPA, giving a grand total of

400 mg DHA + 600 mg EPA per day. This would seem to be much lower than

the doses used in the ongoing DHA study.

You are correct that 1.6g = 1600mg.

Best regards,

Dave R.

[Guest guest]

Oops, you're right, it was 1600 not 800 mg/day of DHA in the study.

The informed consent was worded in a confusing way, and I had asked

about this, but forgot the answer. Your math is correct.

Dr Freedman said that if he gave the dose/weight the mice got, it

would be even higher, something huge like 10 GRAMS/day of DHA for a

person (if you trust my memory!). So he went with the 1600mg dose as

something that is in the range that is likely to be tolerated by

people. I guess 10g might give you fish burps in a major way!

The fish oils in the stores are all mixed DHA/EPA and others, which is

why you get only in the range of 200mg DHA/300mg EPA from a 1000mg

tablet. Dr Freedman thinks that EPA could compete with DHA for uptake,

but has shown that EPA doesn't prevent PSC in the CFTR-/- mice (cystic

fibrosis gene knockout).

Here's the reference:

Blanco PG, Zaman MM, Junaidi O, Sheth S, Yantiss RK, Nasser IA,

Freedman SD. Induction of colitis in cftr-/- mice results in bile duct

injury. Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest Liver Physiol, 2004

Martha (MA)

I also received your question regarding " what is the range of dosage

being considered in this research " and the dose is the 1.6g DHA/day +

dietary amount. We chose the DHA dose based on what people can

tolerate. "

> 1.6 G/day is a lot more fish oil that the bottle says for most of

the brands I saw in the stores. In my case I would have to take 14

capsules a day to get the 1.6g dose like the study. That's a lot of oil.

>

> Do I have my math right here? 1.6g = 1600mg right?

> Mike Z

>

[Guest guest]

Perscription strength omega 5 required fewer pill.

Omacor is a new (to USA) omega 3 esters that are concentrated

http://www.omacorrx.com/About_OMACOR/Benefits_of_OMACOR.html

It is indicated for individuals with high triglycerides and has been

shown to reduce sudden cardiac death. Few physicians are familiar

with it yet and none would understand why you would want to take it

for PSC (unless you took a copy of the mouse study)

Anyway they come in 1000mg and are 84% EPA/DHA so instead of 10

grams/day. If my math is right 5 pills/day would get to the 2 gm/day.

40% EPA --- 400mg/pill --- (2000mg/day)/400/pill --- 5 pills/day

The fish oil pills will cost about $100/month

5 omacor will cost 1.20 x 150 $180/month or what ever the co-pay might be.

Who knows it may help slow the PSC and you'll sleep better knowing

that you heart will keep beating nice and regular all night long.

> > Anyone else want to contribute what dose of fish oil they're

> using, or what dosages were used in studies etc.?

>

>

> Our son started out on 1 x 1000 mg per day, then went up to 2 x 1000

> mg per day after a few months,

>