IOL Strength and Conditioning

By now you’ve caught a hint (I started to write “whiff,” but that just seems wrong) of the lawsuit filed March 2, 2010, in which the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation claims they had 10 fish oil products tested and discovered the presence of PCBs.  PCBs are man-made compounds that were used in coolants and electrical products such as transformers until they were banned in 1979. These toxins are still in the water, and hence, are still in fish. Here’s a write-up on the lawsuit via ConsumerAffairs.com.

First, my bias disclaimer: The following is coming from a person who takes and sells omega-3 oils, and who has not changed her outlook after reviewing the lawsuit information in the media and a number of websites and supplier-provided materials.

According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a food supplement manufacturer’s trade association (I think this means lobbyist), there are no safety issues with fish oil.

“Though the lawyers suggest that the levels of PCBs found in these products far exceed what is acceptable by Prop 65 standards, the actual levels of PCBs found in the majority of these products do not appear to exceed the Prop 65 limit (90 ng/day). Furthermore, they fail to mention that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) tolerance level for PCBs in fish (2,000 parts per billion) far exceeds the levels of PCBs found in fish oil.”

Now Foods, a trusted supplier of ours and a defendant in the case in which three of their oil products were named (shark liver, salmon and double-strength cod liver, none of which are raw materials in the Now Foods Omega-3 oil we carry), offered the following comment included in a faxed letter from the company president, Al Powers:

“The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim that our products tested for the presence of PCBs in very small amounts. Unfortunately, PCBs are an environmental pollutant that are found virtually everywhere in nature. The levels of PCBs that were reported in the lawsuit were less than the limits that are allowed for a serving of fish. In other words, you will probably ingest more PCBs from eating fish that consuming fish oil capsules. In fact, you would probably need to ingest over 500 fish oil capsules to match the allowable limit for PCBs in a 4-oz salmon fillet.”

Our other fish oil supplier, Nordic Naturals, responded with:

“[Nordic Naturals] products surpass all PCB standards set by California’s Proposition 65, the GOED voluntary monograph, and all international standards. Nordic Naturals products were not listed in the lawsuit filed in California alleging that eight fish oil companies did not properly label products regarding PCB levels under the state’s Proposition 65…

“Using the most advanced testing methods to detect PCBs, third-party tests show that Nordic Naturals products have no detectable levels at one part per trillion of Non-Ortho and Mono-Ortho PCBs (the most harmful PCBs which are not covered by Prop 65) and total PCBs are well below the Prop 65 limit of 0.09µg/kg (0.09ppm or 90ppb).”

You can use this International Fish Oil Standards site to review the results of their testing on some of the brands of fish oil, those who chose to pay to have their oils tested. Note the various quality levels found under the drop-down selection box. Your brand may or may not be included, but that does not indicate a problem with the oil.

To expand your omega knowledge, you might spend a little time at the Omega Research site, a Nordic Naturals site where I believe you’ll find documentation of every omega oil research study archived, or you could spend the weekend reading the reports here on the International Fish Oil Standards site.