Wading into fish oil supplement safety

Just when it seemed that attempting to eat well was confusing enough - sugar or substitute, raw milk or fortified, red wine or no - the protection of a heart-health stalwart is under attack. Fish oil is health supplements, which offer beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and are among the nation's most popular well-being boosters, possess a dark side, says case filed in San Francisco Superior Court through the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation Eureka.

Ten over-the-counter fish oil and cod liver oil supplements - from the at least 200 brands estimated to become on the market - were tested by Mateel and found to contain toxins called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The degree, not disclosed on labels, varied widely; some were far beyond what requires a warning label under California's Proposition 65 disclosure rules, which mandate that manufacturers list certain toxins within their products. Among those toxins are PCBs due to their carcinogenic risks in addition to their link to reproductive problems. California has set a suitable risk level for PCBs as carcinogens: a scant 90 billionths of the gram a day (90 nanograms). No acceptable risk level continues to be set for reproductive effects.

The tests, conducted on manufacturers' recommendations for daily dosages, which vary widely, discovered that three of the 10 products contained PCB levels above that benchmark for carcinogens. David Roe, a lawyer for the environmental plaintiffs, says Mateel tested daily dosages as the results would yield a genuine measure of daily intake since the majority of consumers follow label recommendations. The lowest level, found in Solgar's Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, was 70 times below the greatest, found in Now Foods Salmon Oil. Different dosages could account for a number of the variance among the products, nevertheless the tests found that concentration amounts of PCBs varied also.

Toxicity can vary widely in fish oil, depending on what kind of fish is used and the contamination in its habitat waters, scientists say. Older, bigger fish have a tendency to build up more PCBs within their fatty tissues than smaller fish, but habitat is still key. (In California, high degrees of PCBs have been found in fish around San francisco bay area Bay, Santa Monica Bay, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, San Pedro Bay and Long Beach Harbor.) Deciphering which items are safest is not easy for consumers: Not every manufacturers state what sort of fish their oil is derived from, and few state which waters the fish originate from.