This Is What Fish Oil Supplements Actually Do

A few years back, I had a job which required me to write up science-sounding short articles to support my employer's prescription-only supplements. I have a background in biochemistry, and an absurd desire to do a job the Right Way, so of course I looked at a lot of research before writing those articles. Some of what I wrote up was just essentially copy / social media nonsense, but some of it was also handouts for doctors and talking points for our reps.

It's been a few years, but I remember 1) hating the whole freaking industry, with it's unwillingness to fund good research, inability to conduct good research, and willingness to adopt bad research as gospel, and 2) thinking there could actually be something interesting to DHA.

So every now and then I consider doing fishoil supplements. But then I remember how absurdly unregulated OTC supplements are, and think about the issues with commercial fishing, and that's that.

I stay away from fish oil due to concerns about pollutant bio-accumulation in fatty flesh. My research leads me to believe algae-based EPA/DHA supplements are much safer, as they're created in a clean, hermetically sealed environment. However, our bodies are perfectly capable of creating the long-chain variants from polyunsaturated fats, provided we avoid the standard Western diet of processed products, which unbalances the omega3-6 ratios and impedes their desaturation and elongation.

My landlords son was crippled by arthritis in his teens. He was in a wheel chair. The doctors and physical therapists in New Zealand tried everything they could. In the end he could make his symptoms go away and come back depending on if he took fish oil supplements or not. He went on to sell fish oil supplements.

I've tried taking fish oil a few times but the recommended doses seem to keep giving me nosebleeds. I've tried a few cycles and a few different brands to confirm, but like clockwork: I supplement fish oil in the morning, and I get a random nosebleed in the afternoon. When I stop, the nosebleeds stop.

I usually never get nosebleeds so it's a very odd correlation. I've since just started eating more fatty fish (salmon, mostly) to get my omega lipids up and that's working out fine, but I'm curious why I have such a bad reaction to capsule-form fish oil.