Cod Liver Oil Capsules – Does it Work?

Cod liver oil capsules

I, like many others, can’t manage to include enough fish in my weekly diet, so I decided to explore the market for omega-3 supplements and found something called cod liver oil capsules. After doing some research on this product I was positively surprised finding Norwegian cod liver oil as one of the frequently mentioned fish oils. This was interesting because being a Norwegian I can vouch for the Norwegian populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) that this oil is harvested from. It is important for me that the omega-3 supplements are pure and come from a clean and healthy fish.

Fish oil benefits

Fish oil from cod contains several important nutrients that our body needs to function properly. Easily explained you could say that they are building blocks for your body, which include vitamins and fatty acids among others. Such nutrients are essential in maintaining the cellular clockwork of our body and they improve both health and fitness. Both these aspects can be boiled down to the individual health of each cell in our body and some of the fish oil benefits are that the nutrients feed the cells when for instance they divide. Every second of your adult life about 1.000.000 cells die and have to be replaced. This might seem a lot, but considering we have about 40-50 trillion cells in our body it’s only a small portion. However, to be able to replace the dying cells it’s important that we provide the living ones with the necessary nutrients (or building blocks). Cod liver oil capsules do exactly that.

When talking about omega-3 we may often read about fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These fatty acids are known to reduce the risk of heart disease and also reduce pain when suffering from arthritis. Why we observe this effect is still under debate, but it is closely connected to the part described above.

Which product to choose

There are many companies that produce cod liver oil capsules with both varying quality and definitely varying prices. Further articles will focus on which products represent the best quality for money and hopefully I will find the perfect supplement for my (and maybe your) diet.