Sales of these supplements have shot up in recent years making the task of buying a good fish oil that little bit harder.

™

Numerous look alike brands with fancy packaging can range in price vastly. Here's a couple of easy to follow pointers to check that you're getting a quality oil.

The two that this article will cover are purity and freshness, which are closely related. The purest fish oils have been through a process of distillation which removes most of the heavy metals, PCB's and dioxins.

If you're wondering how come they are there in the fist place then perhaps you didn't realize that the majority of fishing areas are contaminated with these man made pollutants.

Except for a few little known about areas like the Southern Ocean, which still remains largely pristine. Well, one highly regarded fish oils supplier has tapped into the fish stocks from here and produces an extremely good fish oil.

It's purity even exceeds the international Visit the website industry standards-all four of them in fact.

Once you harvest fish it's how you handle them and look after them that impacts on their freshness. Badly handled produce leads to a process called oxidization and creates damaging free radicals, which you certainly don't need more of.

Also if what you're already taking is making you burp and repeat then that's a sign of a supplement that's using oils not at their best.

It's also a sign that tells you that it's time to change to a better product. Any good fish oil producer worth their salt will be happy to divulge their COA or Certificate Of Analysis.

These are not complicated things to look at, as all you need to check is that the oxidization levels are low.

If the table of results has Not Detected in the columns for heavy metals like mercury and lead, and the same for anything in the Pesticides and Pollutants section, you know you're on to a winner.

There are a lot of substandard omega 3 fatty acid supplements on the market. As a result, you will need to be even more careful in order to make sure that you are not taking bad omega 3 supplements. Capsules that have been made carelessly or cheaply will often be less effective in treating the conditions you are taking them for.

Other hazards that you should worry about when it comes to bad omega 3 fatty acid supplements? Bad breath and upset stomach, as well as a higher quantity of toxic materials than you should be ingesting - at which point you might as well just eat fish!

What are the warning signs of cheap or otherwise undesirable omega 3 fatty acid products?

The first warning sign is taste and smell. Hopefully, you will never get to the point where you are about to take an omega 3 supplement and discover that it has a terrible fishy smell.

Supplements that smell strongly of fish have been made with rancid foil. As a result, the fishy smell, taste, and aftertaste are still very much present.

Before you open the package, the biggest warning sign is that the fish capsules have added flavors or scents to mask the fishy odor. Good fish oil will not have any artificially added flavors because it won't need them! If you are buying pure fish oil, it shouldn't smell like anything at all.

Another warning sign to watch for is when the fish supplement does not tell you both where the fish was caught and where it was manufactured. This might not be on the fish oil packaging, but you should be able to get that information directly from the manufacturer.

You want oil made from the hoki fish in New Zealand - an oily fish that lives in some of the cleanest water in the world. You also want to make sure that your fish oil was manufactured near where it was caught - this ensures that the fish oil was pure and unspoiled when the supplements were made.

What are things to look for?

Oil that has been made by a reputable company will tell you everything you need to know in order to ensure that the fish oil is pure and good for you. This includes where the fish was caught, where it was manufactured and whether or not the manufacturer used a purifying method to remove toxins from the oil.

There are several different methods of fish oil purification. Although some companies use a method called oil refining, molecular distillation is much more effective and will remove more toxins.

If you keep an eye out for these warning signs, you should be able to find effective fish oil capsules with no trouble at all!