So, I’ve been told that fish oil is good for me. It may or may not save me from the health problems I may or may not have, but one thing that people who tell me that fish oil is good is that I need to make sure that it’s been “molecularly filtered” because that removes all the impurities.
Or something.
My questions: a) what is molecular filtering b) does it exist c) does it work, i.e. will the fish oil I get that hasn’t been filtered kill me while the m-filtered stuff is the cure-all tonic I’ve been waiting for my whole life?
I’m not really concerned whether or not fish oil itself is beneficial to me, just curious about the filtering process.
Sure molecular filters exist. They’re also called ultrafilters. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Here’s a sample of some with 5,000, 10,000, 30,000 50,000 and 100,000 molecular weight (protein) cutoffs.
While you have to filter fish oil in order to remove scales, fishbits, dust etc. I don’t see that there’d be any need to put it through a 10,000 molecular weight cutoff filter. The term “molecularly filtered” just isn’t precise enough to get an idea of what exactly would be removed by the process. Used as it is, it sounds like marketing hype.
I think you are getting confused. I could not google a single hit for molecularly filtered fish oil. However, there are many hits for molecularly distilled fish oil. This is just marketing hype for being distilled. The reason for doing this is that fish tend to concentarte heavy metals such as mercury. Distilling should remove alot of this contamination.
Ah, I think that’s what the people who told me about this were getting at. I then have to wonder if a) the distilled supplements cost more and b) if the distillation is effective enough to make the distilled products better than the “raw” (or at least “not as bad” if the beneficial aspects are the same).
I don’t know about filtered, but you can get enteric coated fish oil. The coating doesn’t dissolve until it gets past your stomach, so you won’t be belching up fishy burps all day.
Even so, please note that not all fish have high concentrations of mercury or other toxins. Bioaccumulation tends to concentrate these in predatory fish like the sailfishes or sharks, and of course, the area the fish come from is also important. Check this EPA advisory on mercury in fish for some details. If the fish oil comes from farmed tilapia, for example, it could still be a scam to extract a higher price from the consumer for the same level of safety.
And as far as mercury goes, you only really need to worry about it (at this point) if,
You are a small child/baby, or are planning on birthing/breastfeeding a small child/baby in the future. ( I realize this includes a significant chunk of the population, but less than a majority);
Eating fish from a toxic pond somewhere, where you shouldn’t be;
or
Eating superhuman amounts of tuna or other high-mercury fish. Not easy in fish form; I don’t know if you could get enough mercury in fish oil to be a concern, but you’d probably have to work at it.
If you ARE a potential baby nurturer or small child yourself, then check out the aforementioned guidelines. Protecting your baby’s brain is a very good thing to do.