The Health Benefits of Cod Liver Oil and Fish Oil

By Ben Kim, D.C.

One of the best additions that my wife and I have made to
our diets over the past few years has been cod liver oil.
Why has cod liver oil become a permanent part of our healthy
food plan? It is one of the most reliable and concentrated
food sources of four nutrients that are essential to your
health: DHA, EPA, vitamin A, and vitamin D. These four nutrients
are needed for:

• Healthy skin
• Strong bones and teeth
• Healthy joints
• A healthy cardiovascular
  system
• A healthy nervous system and prevention of depression
  and other mood disorders
• A healthy lining for your
  digestive tract

DHA is a fatty acid that is essential to the health
of your nervous system and eyes. It is vital to preventing
depression. If you suffer from intermittent or chronic depression,
this is one nutrient that you want to get every single day.
If you want to get pregnant or are pregnant, you need to eat
foods with DHA on a regular basis in order to support proper
development of your baby’s nervous system and prevent depression
during pregnancy and after the baby arrives. I am convinced
that the vast majority of cases of post partum (after delivery)
depression can be avoided just by taking cod liver oil each
day.

EPA is a fatty acid that promotes a healthy cardiovascular
system and decreases inflammation throughout your body. Its
anti-inflammatory properties makes EPA especially helpful
to people who suffer with arthritis. EPA is also closely linked
with your emotional health, with many studies showing that
it plays a strong role in preventing depression.

Vitamin A is necessary for proper vision, healthy skin,
and strong mucosal linings, including the lining of your digestive
tract. Many skin and digestive disorders cannot fully heal
without a reliable supply of vitamin A.

Vitamin D is essential to maintaining strong bones
and teeth. It enhances the strength and efficiency of your
immune system, which decreases your risk of developing autoimmune
conditions. Vitamin D helps your body regulate its blood sugar
levels, playing an important role in preventing type II diabetes.
Finally, vitamin D is one of several nutrients that are necessary
for preventing high blood pressure.

My wife and I use a lemon flavoured variety of cod liver oil
made by Carlson Labs. For the past twenty years, Carlson
has been providing exceptionally high quality cod liver oil
by using only cod that are harvested from clean arctic waters
off the coast of northern Norway. These cold ocean waters
contain the ideal nutrients for the growth of healthy cod,
rich in the nutrients mentioned above.

During the fishing season, cod are gathered and brought to
the fishery everyday, where workers immediately remove the
liver oil from the liver tissues. Many other types of cod
liver oil are not made on a daily basis because they come
from cod that are caught by large boats which are out on the
ocean for 1-2 weeks, making it impossible to make as fresh
a product. This is an important point, as the freshness and
nutritional content of cod liver oil depends largely on how
quickly the oil is removed from the liver tissue.

Carlson uses a special steam extraction process that produces
a super high quality oil that doesn’t have a bad taste or
smell like some other varieties. As soon as the oil is produced,
it is put into 2.5 ton containers that have nitrogen pumped
into them. Nitrogen is necessary to remove any oxygen in the
containers, another important step that is taken to maximize
freshness, as oxygen can damage the valuable fatty acids in
cod liver oil.

Ultimately, purified cod liver oil that is rich in nutrients
and naturally occurring antioxidants is bottled in Norway
and nitrogen-sealed, which ensures that there is no air in
the oil or bottle. Many other providers of cod liver oil have
it shipped to the U.S. in large drums, to be bottled later
to save on costs. Having the cod liver oil bottled in Norway
is another step taken to ensure freshness, eliminating the
potential for problems that could come up during storage or
shipping.

I appreciate that Carlson Cod Liver Oil is regularly tested
using AOAC international protocols for purity and potency
by an independent, FDA registered laboratory. These
tests regularly confirm that Carlson Cod Liver Oil is free
of detectable levels of mercury, cadmium, lead, PCB’s and
28 other contaminants.

If you are anxious about the taste, not to worry. Carlson
Cod Liver Oil has a natural lemon flavour added to it, which
makes it totally fine to take before or during your meals.
We prefer to take it right before lunch or dinner in order
to facilitate optimal assimilation of the healthy fats and
fat-soluble vitamins in the foods that we eat.

If you’re thinking about taking capsules instead of the liquid,
I highly encourage you to try the liquid for a month. Through
my own experimenting and observing my patients over the years,
I have found that taking the pure liquid produces superior
results compared to taking gel capsules.

Please note: For most people, a safe dosage of cod liver oil
is approximately two teaspoons per day. Two teaspoons will
provide you with the following: