FAQ-Cod Liver Oil |
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Cod Liver Oil (CLO)For a summary of our position on cod liver oil click here for the Cod Liver Oil section of the website. Q. Is Carslon's a good brand of cod liver oil? A. We no longer recommend Carlson's because the vitamin A content is too low. See our brand recommendations here. Q. How much cod liver oil should I take? A. We recommend the equivalent of 10,000 IUs of vitamin A per day for general health of adults and half that for children. A high vitamin cod liver oil will have that much vitamin A in 1 teaspoon. Q. Should cod liver oil have an orange color? A. Vitamin A is colorless (carotenes are orange). So there is no need for cod liver oil to have an orange color. In the past, before modern filtering techniques, cod liver oil was a dark yellow or brown color, which was from the livers. Q. Cod liver oil makes me belch, what do you suggest? A. If someone is belching from cod liver oil, try giving a smaller dose, more often, usually just right before a meal. Q: In Krispin Sullivan’s article on vitamin D, it mentions to be sure that you have sufficient calcium intake when you are supplementing your diet with cod liver oil. The article mentions the amount of 1200 - 2400 mg of calcium a day. Can you tell me how many mg of calcium are in 8 ounces of raw milk or 8 ounces of raw milk yogurt? A: About 600 mg in 16 ounces of raw milk. About 200 mg in one ounce of cheese. Q: I know that fish oil is bad for us especially because there is too much omega-3 derivatives EPA and DHA. And this disrupts the balance between omega-3 and omega-6, which weakens the immune system right? You clearly mention on your website that you don't recommend fish oil. But cod liver oil is a fish oil right? So the same reasoning applies to cod liver oil. It will disrupt the balance between the omega-3 and 6, which is bad. In this case, is it better to take the cod liver oil with some omega-6 rich oils like safflower or sunflower oils? Dr. Mercola, and others, recommends krill oil, what do you think of that? Q: Does Cod Liver Oil have a negative effect on Osteoporosis? A: from Chris Masterjohn: There is no evidence that Cod Liver Oil worsens Osteoporosis risk and the scant evidence that exists suggests it may be beneficial. Here is a very brief description of the evidence that should be beneficial. Q: My husband works on an organic farm in Austin, TX - as you can imagine, he is exposed to the sun. He has been taking CLO and I am worried he maybe getting too much Vitamin D. I contacted Green Pastures and they responded that it was different Vitamin D. A: (from Chris Masterjohn) I doubt he will overdose on vitamin D because CLO contains much more vitamin A than D. While I believe it is important to also get plenty of vitamin K from a diversity of sources including leafy greens, fermented foods, and grass-fed animal foods, animal experiments suggest that having a hefty amount of vitamin A in the diet and virtually eliminate any risk of vitamin D toxicity. That said, I think we should also be wary about overdosing on CLO because of the omega-3 fatty acids and because, traditionally, there were limits to the perceived safety. Price, for example, used 3/4 of a teaspoon of high-vitamin cod liver oil and did not consider it advisable to use more than a teaspoon for extended periods of time. John Hughes Bennett noted that peasants would often use it in large quantities of 1-2 pints, but only for a week at most. Medical men, he said, would give 2-4 tbsp/day to adults and 1-3 tsp/day to children, but he noted that if this was continued for six or seven months it would invariably result in toxicity. I think these problems are partly from oxidation products and modern CLO might be somewhat safer. However, I think that overdose on omega-3 fatty acids is a genuine concern, and I also think we should stick within traditional precedent. Thus, I would say 3/4 tsp/day should be considered an absolute maximum for long-term use. If you are using it for some therapeutic reason in the short-term, you could use more, perhaps much more, but should listen to your body and only use it if it seems to be helping.
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Hits: 12764 Comments (9)
Reply to Becky
written by tjboyd, Feb 27 2012
There may have been some confusion about which specific Carlson's product you meant, liquid or capsules. The recommendations page is kept up to date as best we can.
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written by Becky, Feb 27 2012
Someone ask if Carlson's was a good brand and was told "no, we no longer recommend it" and was referred to the recommendation page which clearly still recommends Carlson's! What the heck? What about the other brands on that same page?
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written by chrystal, Nov 21 2010
I am taking the recommended dosage of fermented clo each day and my vitamin d level (tested last year and this year)is still below 30 ng/ml. It was 24.9 this past month. Should I take more clo? Should I double my intake to 2 teaspoons? Is that safe? And how long should I do that? Should I retest in 6 months to see if my level increases?
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written by Dr. Tom, Oct 30 2010
The only Cod Liver Oil I recommend to anybody is Green Pasture Fermented Cod Liver Oil. It is raw, lacto-fermented and in it's most natural state. Carlson's is highly processed sludge...I'd never recommend it to anybody. Even Quantum Cod Liver Oil by Premier Research Labs, while much better than Carlson's, is still much more highly processed and isn't raw or fermented.
Cod Liver Oil - Brand Dilemma
written by Elena Novak, Jan 28 2010
I use Cod Liver Oil from Premier Research Labs and it is of exquisite quality. I recommend looking into it. I noticed that you recommend certain supplements from Standard Process and I wonder if you are aware that SP uses many fillers and toxins, including Magnesium Stearate, in their products. These toxic additives have no place in food-based supplements or in our diets. There are several smaller companies like Premier Research Labs out there that offer excipient-free, super food-based supplements of superior quality.
Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio
written by John, Dec 29 2009
How does fish oil throw off the omega 3/6 ratio? I supplement with fish oil (1 teaspoon of Carlsons daily) and am very interested to hear if I it is counterproductive.
n/a
written by kevin russell, Dec 24 2009
simple question how are the fish oils adding too much fatty acids, and omegas i don't follow the problem
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