Fish oil capsules pack same omega-3 punch as fish:
To investigate, Harris and his team had 11 women eat two servings of tuna or salmon each week, while an additional 12 women took in the same amount of omega-3s, an estimated 485 milligrams daily, in capsule form.After 16 weeks, the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in the red blood cells of women in both groups had risen by 40 percent to 50 percent, while omega-3s in the plasma (the cell-free, liquid portion of the blood) had risen by 60 percent to 80 percent.
“We went into the project assuming that fish would be better, based on some previous literature from other people,” Harris noted in an interview. Based on the current findings, he added, “it doesn’t make any difference whether you get your omega 3 fatty acids from a concentrate in a capsule or in fish — they have the same effect on enriching the tissues with omega 3.”
Nevertheless, Harris said, he would encourage people to eat fish rather than relying on fish oil capsules. “Fish of course brings with it proteins and minerals and other factors that are good for our health that the capsules don’t bring, but we weren’t able to measure any of those things,” he said.