Can you overdose on Fish Oil and Flax seed oil?

[TRiBaL]

LOL I was just wondering if its possiable to overdose on this stuff, and how much should i take. Right now i use theratears fish oil blend.

[Rebecca Petris]

LOL I was just wondering if its possiable to overdose on this stuff, and how much should i take. Right now i use theratears fish oil blend.

Certainly. A common mistake with nutritional supplements is to think that quantity doesn't matter because "it's natural". My suggestion would be to talk to your GP before taking more than the recommended dosage.

[Tony Barnes]

Overdosing per se isn't really an issue with these oils, no.

i.e. there doesn't appear to be a toxic upper limit on them - innuit diet consists of over 65% energy from fish oils (not refined though)

There are certain considerations:

1. End ratio of omega 6:3.
Anything from 1:1 to 2:1 omega 6:3 (whole diet) is considered about right for humans. Take too much omega 6 things go wrong, take too much omega 3 things go wrong. If you're just taking fish oil, this probably won't end up a problem as the amounts used are low. If using flax exclusively, and taking 50ml+ a day, then omega 6 deficiency symptoms will start to turn up in time. A 2:1 ratio of omega 3:6 in an oil blend seems to level this issue out, as other fats in the diet make up the extra omega 6 (flax is around 3.5:1). If you eat a lot of seeds or nuts, then flax oil is probably more beneficial than an oil blend as the seeds/nuts are vastly higher in omega 6 than omega 3.

2. Quality of fat.
Unsaturated fats are easily damaged by heat, light and oxygen. The more unsaturated they are the more easily they are damaged. The long chain omega 3 pufas in fish oils are very easily damaged, about 5 times more so than omega 3 LNA from flax oil, which is in turn about 5 times easier to damage than the omega 6 LA in flax. This means that any processing damages the oils easily, and this damage is then left for your body to sort out.The only type of fish oil I would hand on heart recommend is actually krill oil, specifically NKO krill oil. It's very high phospholipid count and astaxanthin content render it hard to damage, plus it's very easily assimilated, so offers better benefits over fish oils (this may have additional benefit for DES, but I've not seen anything specific - would make sense though).

3. You're not talking about cod liver oil.
You can OD on cod liver oil, as it's main purpose is for vit A & D supplementation.

4. You listen to your liver.
Oils are processed by your liver, eat too much fat in one sitting, and you feel groggy and lethargic. This is your liver working it's nuts off basically. The more often you use oils like flax, the more you'll be able to use. But it's best to spread them throughout the day - firstly to take toll off liver, secondly to provide steady throughput of oils for use. The most oil I've had in one sitting was over 100ml in a shake, felt a bit rough afterwards...! Generally I can cope with 50ml very easily, and tend to have 50-100ml oils a day.

Hope that's of some help