When 500mg cod liver oil is not 500mg cod liver oil.......

BlondeHeadOn

I have been trying to buy capsules containing 500mg of cod liver oil (now that the Waitrose ones I used to take seem to have been discontinued).

However every brand I've tried turns out to actually be 251mg of cod liver oil, and 249mg of 'fish oils'. This is very well hidden on the labels - in fact the Boots version that I bought has a label where you have to peel off the first layer to get any details of the ingredients. Yet they still have '500mg mg cod liver oil' on the outside label, and obviously you can't start peeling the labels off in the shop. I am almost tempted to report them to Trading Standards....

It does make a difference to me, as the 'blended' ones I've tried leave me with badly flaking and peeling fingernails after a couple of weeks, whereas pure 500mg CLO gives me really strong healthy nails. This is why I started taking CLO in the first place, but I'm now getting fed up of wasting money buying packs that turn out to be cheaper imitations.

So please does anyone know of a brand where the capsules really are what it says on the tin?

Many thanks for any help.

j.e.j.

Seven Seas seem to contain pure cod liver oil:
http://www.seven-seas.com/products/one-a-day-pure-cod-liver-oil

A.Penny.Saved

I prefer the liquid rather than capsules because I don't trust capsules any more due to phthalates. Attempting to decipher how some companies like to try and hide the information gives me even less confidence in them.

I now use Holland & Barrett high strength CLO which uses a concentrated fish oil with regular CLO at £8.49 plus buy one get one half price plus some generous 10.75 to 15.75% topcashback. It's in nice glass bottles too so no issues with plastics leaching into the fat.

anniewoo

I was looking at vitamin supplements in Wilkinson's this morning and as far as I could see,their CLO doesn't have any other fish oils in it.They had both capsules and the liquid.

A.Penny.Saved

H&B do do the straight CLO liquid rather than the CLO and concentrate that I use. It costs about 50p extra though.

If you don't mind the taste, which I don't find H&B CLO all that strong or distasteful, then a liquid does have some benefits IMO. Myprotein sell one which is very strong tasting, the orange flavour is meant to be awful. Bad tasting oils can be a sign that they have turned rancid, just like most supermarket vegetable oils which have fragrances and tastes added to them to cover it up.

BlondeHeadOn

anniewoo wrote: »

I was looking at vitamin supplements in Wilkinson's this morning and as far as I could see,their CLO doesn't have any other fish oils in it.They had both capsules and the liquid.

I'd not thought of Wlikinsons, so I looked them up online - and found this rather useful comparison site:

http://www.supplementscompared.com/cod-liver-oil-capsules/

This link has a comparison of 11 of the main suplliers, with what's in each product and a review, with ratings for value for money and overall.

Your replies have all been really useful, and have led me to find this website which is just what I need. So many thanks to all!

:T:T:T


BTW the comparison site link also looks good for other supplement reviews, which may be useful to other MSE'ers - epsecially as it includes a value for money rating.