omega-3 fish oil belongs to the essential fatty acids which our body needs.

Our body does not have any capabilities of producing the omega-3 so we rely

on external sources, mainly fish rich in oil, as our main source. The fact

that it is labeled essential fatty acid means that our body really needs it

and the lack of which could result to a variety of health consequences.

Among the known benefits of taking omega-3 includes reducing the risks of

having heart disease, can reduce the development of cancer cells, prevents

pregnancy complications, improves eyesight and helps prevent depression. We

can have a longer list but I won’t trouble you with that, needless to say

the benefits of fish oil are real. But unknown to quite few, the fish oil

supplements that we all think of as friends has the dark side too, has side

effects which when left uncheck can be quite harmful and can even prove to

be fatal.

If our list of benefits is quite long, the side effects not as many. The

side effects only manifests when one overdoses with the intake and can even

disappear after a few days. Sometimes that body just needs to get used to

the fish oil and once it has adjusted, the side effects would disappear.

Some of the minor and immediate side effects include a fishy after taste

and diarrhea.

These two often appears during the first few days of taking the fish oil.

These symptoms should disappear after a couple of days but in case they

don’t changing brands of fish oil supplements might help. But setting up a

meeting with your doctor would be the best idea.

After a couple of weeks of taking fish oil capsules, you might notice some

fishy burping before and after each meal. This can just be because your

body is still adjusting. Give it a couple of days and the burping might

stop. Although, you should check the expiry dates of your of your

supplements. You might also want to consider that what you have been taking

are bad quality produce. Changing brands might help. Some suggest keeping

the supplements in a freezer to prevent the various gastrointestinal side

effects.

On the other hand, blood thinning is something that you cannot eliminate by

just simply changing brands. You see omega-3 from fish oils is great for

the heart because it is a natural blood thinner. They help coagulate the

blood which helps prevent blood clots which helps prevent heart diseases.

But because omega-3 is already a blood thinner, people who are already

taking blood thinning medications should avoid the intake of either the

fish oil or the blood thinning drug. The possible problem with this is that

people will get too much blood thinners resulting to patients bleeding out.

The bleeding could be internal which can damage organs and could result to

something fatal.

You should watch out for signs of internal bleeding like black stools or

the presence of blood in the stool or vomiting of blood which are all signs

of gastrointestinal bleeding. When you bleed in the brain the signs could

be changes in your vision or speech, numbness of an arm or leg, and severe

headache.

The dark side of fish oil is just that, one part of a fairly good

supplement. There are ways to prevent the side effects and most of them

through proper consultations before you even start taking those fish oil

supplements.

much and what is omega-3, they will probably give you a long lecture on how

important or beneficial essential fatty acids are to your health. They will

site a number of studies proving the positive effects of fatty acids on our

bodies and how these can be used to treat a variety of conditions, ailments

or diseases.

Some, and these are the really omega-3 fanatics, can go on and on and on.

From the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids to the preparations and cooking of

salmon. At the end you find yourself mumbling and probably cursing why you

asked in the first place. However, despite the long lecture, you might

notice your friend leaving behind an issue that is often disregarded but is

equally important with the benefits of fish oils. And that can be addressed

by answering the question: is fish oil harmful?

I am all for the various benefits of fish oils. I don’t discount it, I

don’t question the studies nor do I criticize the testimonies from long

time users. But personally, I don’t believe that fish oils are purely good.

We have this saying that too much of anything is bad for you. The same

should apply to fish oils. After researching the internet, reading a number

of articles, and a couple of cups of coffee, I found out that fish oils do

have some side effects, some even quite harmful.

Among the more minor side effects are diarrhea and that fishy after taste.

You will experience these side effects if you too much dosage of fish oils.

Commonly doctors would prescribe or recommend a 2 gram intake of fish oil

daily at the minimum.

Probably the major risk of overdosing on fish oil is the contamination,

more specifically mercury contamination. It is a sad fact, but a lot of the

world’s fishing grounds are contaminated or polluted. The fish you eat

might have a good stock of omega-3 but you might not know it, the fish

might only contain a considerable amount of heavy metal contaminants. When

it comes to pill or capsule supplements, the process of creating those fish

oil capsules might not be safe. The safest would be through a distillation

process.

Another major risk is when combined with other blood thinners. Fish oil

acts as a blood thinner or anti-coagulant, which basically helps stop

platelets or heavy cells from forming blood clots reducing the risks of

having a heart attack. However, if you combine fish oil with other

medicines such as aspirins, the result might be very harmful to your body

and even fatal. Too much blood thinners can cause you to bleed out. And

bleeding does not mean just bleeding out externally, but there are cases

where patients actually bled to their brains.

So going back to our question, is fish oil harmful? Well, the above

scenario is quite a frightening one but things like that could possibly

happen to people who are extremely careless. That is why before you take

any supplements, fish oil in this case, you should consul your doctors and

make sure you provide them with a complete, honest and proper medical

history.