It seems like every where you turn these days someone is making Fish Oil. Slap a fancy label on it and call it Alaskan Iced Fish Poop Oil and people will buy it. Don't be those people!<br /><br />When your doctor tells you that Fish Oil is highly beneficial, they're correct. It's one of the best over-the-counter supplements that actually work and not subject to a bunch of hype. Fish oil is FDA approved to lower triglycerides levels, but it is also used for many other conditions. Along with a multivitamin, Fish Oil is highly beneficial on a daily basis.<br /><br />When choosing you want the best that you can afford. Even the lower rated brands at Wally World will provide some benefits, but you'll need many doses to get the same benefits from Viva or other highly rated oils.<br /><br />Labdoor.com is an excellent resource for researching any vitamin or supplement. The FDA does not regulate the multi-billion dollar supplement market. Due diligence is important when choosing a supplement. Also consult your doctor or nurse.<br /><br />Viva fish oil isn't at the top of Labdoor's test, only second. But it's readily available. While it may seem expensive, when you break it down it's only 39-40 cents a day. Not bad for fish oil with such high levels of EPA and DHA. You would have to take almost 3 daily doses of Nature's Made oil to equal 1 daily dose of Viva.<br /><br />When choosing an oil, pay close attention to the EPA and DHA amounts. These are the keys ingredients. The oil should be made from high quality fish oil and nothing else. For this review I uploaded the fact label (yellow) from the very popular Nature's Made oil. Compare the levels side-by-side and you'll be quite surprised by the differences.<br /><br />Total Omega-3: 2000mg vs 720mg<br />EPA: 1400mg vs 360mg<br />DHA: 480mg vs 240mg<br /><br />I've only been taking oil for 3 months after my sweet tooth got me trouble with high triglyceride levels. My doctor strongly suggested fish oil and strict sweet reduction. The fish oil part was easy. Man how I miss my sweets! I never met a doughnut I didn't like.<br /><br />As a practicing RN for 20 years, I always caution my patients with regards to any supplement. The majority of supplement claims are pure hogwash and not regulated. All that money spent on unnecessary supplements comes out in your urine and flushed down the toilet.<br /><br />Many supplements can interact with your current prescription medications. Always, and I mean always, check with your doctor or nurse BEFORE you add any supplement. Also make sure that they have a current and complete list of all your medications, prescribed or not.<br /><br />Viva fish oil is one of the best out there and won't break the bank.

As a Family and Integrative Medicine physician, I conducted extensive research prior to selecting brands of fish oil to recommend to my patients.<br /><br />Viva Naturals Fish Oil has a high concentration of the most clinically-researched omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA (roughly triple the concentration of ordinary fish oil capsules), in the superior triglyceride form. I reviewed the findings of multiple third-party testing agencies (including ConsumerLab and LabDoor) to confirm the quality and purity of Viva Naturals Fish Oil before coming to this conclusion.<br /><br />Although there are a few other companies making omega-3 supplements with a slightly higher concentration of EPA and DHA, these companies tend to charge considerably more for their products (one comparable brand charges over three times the price of Viva). Therefore, on a cost-benefit analysis, I came to the conclusion that Viva Naturals Fish Oil is the best quality omega-3 supplement currently available for a reasonable price.<br /><br />So, when I advise my patients to start an omega-3 supplement (an extremely common recommendation in my practice!), I have placed Viva Naturals at the top of my list for recommended brands.<br /><br />Personally, I have been taking Viva Naturals Fish Oil for almost a year now, and have been quite pleased thus far (I've ordered it from both Amazon and directly from Viva Naturals).

There's significant evidence showing omega-3 improves heart & brain health. Omega-3s are “essential” fatty acids because the body can't produce them on their own and so we must rely on food & supplements. There are 3 types: ALA, DHA, EPA. Plant-based foods provide ALA, while seafood sources provide DHA & EPA. The positive health benefits of omega-3 are linked mostly with DHA and EPA. The American Heart Association recommends you get 1g of DHA+EPA per day. Hence the need for a fish oil supplement.<br /><br />Note that fish oil comes in 2 forms: triglyceride (natural state) and ethyl ester (processed version). You want the triglyceride form as it is metabolized and absorbed more efficiently and completely than ethyl ester oils. It also is more resistant to oxidation than ethyl ester oils.<br /><br />This Viva Labs product meets all criteria: It is in the highest concentration I've seen among all fish oil supplements, giving you almost 1g of DHA+EPA per one pill. It is also in the beneficial triglyceride form. It has the highest quality ranking on labdoor.com. And if all this wasn't enough, it has a price-per-gram that is one of the lowest I found. Recommend!

I felt encouraged by the amount of testing and the number of reviews, but I have the worst fish burps with this product. I do not have a lipid digestion problem, it's just releasing the omega-3 in the stomach instead of the intestines where it should be. They also advertise testing with IFOS, however, when I looked up the lot it was not tested by them but by a different 3rd party. The other 3rd party testing did not include heavy metal testing in the report! This is a major problem.<br /><br />Men: I also later learned that daily "mega" doses of omega-3 (greater than 1000mg) has a strong correlation to increasing the chance of prostate cancer. Just give it a google search, you'll find the studies pretty fast. If you are at risk or have a family history of prostate cancer, I highly suggest you talk to your doctor before taking this.

I started taking a fish oil supplement for a clinical trial on eye dryness. What I noticed to my surprise was my joints did not hurt anymore. My knees hurt so bad going down the stairs I had to grimace. 4000 milligrams of fish oil stopped the pain. I recommend it highly.

For four years, fish oil has been a chosen nutritional supplement for my son who lives with traumatic brain injury. Public school teachers convinced me that he needed a dose of Concerta, and his pediatrician did not hesitate to write him a prescription. At the time, I was quite illiterate of his need for so much more than a pharmaceutical drug. Since Concerta had been proven to aid TBI and stroke victims with the recovery process, I chose to let my son use Concerta daily. However, since traumatic brain injury is so much more of a diagnosis than ADD/ADHD, his dose for his weight was topped-out in one year.<br /><br />Within that year, I had assumed much research regarding nutritional supplements for traumatic brain injury. I had watched extensive television interviews posted on You Tube, learning that fish oil was the first choice to use in recovery from TBI. Of course, Concerta was not strong enough to aid my son's recovery, so he tapered off the drug in about three months which was also the time that we began administering fish oil. Within two weeks of administering fish oil, we noticed positive changes in behavior, cognition, and attention.<br /><br />Whenever behavioral struggles begin with my son, I prompt myself to research more. Recently, behavioral challenges happened yet again, so I changed his fish oil from a brand distributed by Wal-Mart to Viva Naturals. As a mother, I feel more confident that I am making a better choice for my son's optimal brain health because the capsules are so clearly seen through.<br /><br />Parents of children living with brain injury often never find the necessary support, advice, or direction they need to care for their children. To those parents, I will conclude with posting my son's daily supplements: Viva Naturals Omega-3 Fish Oil Supplement (one in the morning, one at night, 2,200 mg daily dose); one New Chapter Perfect Energy multi-vitamin with herbs in the morning; one New Chapter Perfect Calm multi-vitamin with herbs at night; one probiotic pearl, Hyperbiotics Pro-15, in the morning; CoQ10 30 mg in the morning and at night; and Alpha Lipoic Acid 100 mg in the morning and at night.<br /><br />For many parents, these supplements may seem like a lot for a 12 year old to take. However, fish oil eliminated the use of Concerta. My son no longer uses the hearing aid he needed for nine years, because CoQ10 and Alpha Lipoic Acid cured him of his sensorineural hearing loss of his right ear within nine months, after being profoundly deaf for nine years, yet these antioxidants also improved his attention, behavior, and cognition. In just one week of use, Hyperbiotics Pro-15 regulated his severe constipation from Lupron (used for precocious puberty from TBI), spina bifida occulta, and IBS. Within one week of using New Chapter's multi-vitamins with herbs, my son maintains his attention, follows directions, obeys willfully without needing redirection, exhibits rational thinking and controlled behavior, sleeps throughout the night without difficulty getting to sleep or waking up too late, and smiles throughout the day, every day.