Are there any risks in taking omega-3 fatty acids?

You really can't get enough omega-3 fatty acids; but depending on where you get it from, mercury can be an issue. Watch as psychotherapist Mike Dow, PsyD, explains this risk and how you can safely get your daily dose of these important nutrients.

Transcript

00:00

Solid white albacore, which actually is more expensive than the chunk light tuna that is the cheapest kind in grocery stores, is that it can have a lot of mercury.

00:14

You really can't get enough pure omega 3 fatty acids, but sometimes there is a danger to mercury especially, right?

00:22

So a lot of people think, Oh, I need omega 3, so I'm just going to go out there and eat a lot of tuna because that's what's available readily wherever you go.

00:30

Well the, problem there is that especially the solid white albacore, which actually is more expensive than the chunk light tuna that is the cheapest

00:38

kind of grocery stores, is that it can have a lot of mercury. So it's almost like people are caught between a rock and a hard place because they want those heart

00:45

healthy and grain healthy omega 3s, but it's once you do get those they are actually

00:52

very polluted. And if your supplement isn't molecularly distilled or if you're not getting it from a wild source

00:59

or you're not eating wild caught, you're actually going to be putting a lot of pollutants in your body. So you really do want to find wild caught varieties.

01:08

So if you're taking a supplement that means having a wild caught, wild raised or wild caught

01:15

salmon oil or an omega 3 that has been molecularly distilled, which will take almost all of the mercury

01:21

out and make it very pure. One of my favorite foods. I eat it I would say 5 to 7 days a week

01:28

is they now have pink wild caught salmon packs that are about $1 apiece.

01:35

They're single serve in BPA free packs that tear open. And you can use that and you use a low fat olive oil

01:44

mayonnaise, and it makes an amazing tuna melt. So you really just have to start to get very creative in finding affordable and easy ways to get the wild caught, mercury