Customer Reviews

Carlson The Very Finest Fish Oil Liquid Omega-3 Lemon, 500ml

5 star:		(193)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Bottom Line: Fish Oil really works to prevent artery disease, namely heart disease and strokes. It's not a bogus health food thing, it really works.

You need the EPA and the DHA from the fish. The other omega-3's, 6's etc. aren't the same. Skip the flaxseed, etc. You want enough EPA and DHA, you don't wanna be grossed out by the taste or get a fishy "repeat", and you don't wanna drink a bunch of unnecessary fat.

This stuff is good because: it has the right concentration of EPA/DHA: 1.3 g/teasp, which is high. And it tastes good. Even Nordic Naturals, a very respected company, has a similar EPA/DHA level, but tastes nasty.

Remember these supplements aren't regulated. Go to consumerlabs.com, they test the supplements. This wasn't tested, but Carlson capsules and cod liver oil were tested and passed, so i assume and hope this passes also.

That's all you need to know. If you're 30 or older, and you have high blood pressure and cholesterol like everyone else, take in at least 2 grams of EPA/DHA a day, your arteries will stay clean.

Fish oil capsules cause me to have fish oil after-burps (yuck!), which make me avoid taking fish oil at all. I prefer Carlson's fish oil, but only because I learned the trick of how to swallow a teaspoon of it without gagging.

Have a glass of water or juice handy. Measure out your teaspoon of oil in a tablespoon sized spoon, so you have less chance of spilling it. Take the teaspoon of fish oil in to your mouth,let it gather under your tongue, but do not swallow it until you take your glass of water and wash it down. I take the fish oil before I eat breakfast. No fish burps later. You can do it. It is worth it.

The lemon flavor only partially masks the fishiness of the oil, but it is better than pure fish smell. I think Carlson's fish oil is an excellent product, pure and fresh.

Fish Oil: I love it. I'm happily benefiting from one of the truly great all time, American deficient, foods -- Omega 3 Fish Oil. It is truly a wonderful food; skin, inflammation, mental function, depression and the list goes on. I finished my first bottle and orderd three more. It makes a huge difference in my skin. I'm sure it's doing more great things for me, but it's so exciting to see and feel results too. I've always had keratosis pilaris (also affectionately known as "chicken skin") on my upper arms. I've tried lotions and scrubbing for years, but the fish oil is the only thing that has made a visible difference. I don't break out as much on my face either. And, for years I've been someone who breaks out with random skin rashes - usually on my neck and back - without good reason. Dr.s have perscribed topical creams that act as a panacea for everything that comes up. But the redness is always there beneath the surface. It actually looks like the redness is gone since using Carlson's. This fish oil is so great. You've got me hooked for sure.

My wife began taking fish oil while she was pregnant. Pregnancy and lactation reduce the amount of DHA and EPA available to the mother as the body taps them for the baby's brain development. This was implicated in things like post-natal depression and greater availability of these amino acids can also be beneficial to the baby. Fish oil may also help improve HDL/LDL ratios in people trying to improve their cholesterol, even when over-all cholesterol levels are low.
We started with another brand but switched to Carlson's after my annual check-up and a conversation with my doctor. Carlson's has more high quality DHA and EPA than other brands we researched and Carlson's guarantees the screening of their fish oils for contaminants. It also tastes a lot better than any other brand we tried.

Americans consume a dangerously insufficient amount of Omega-3, which is a fat essential to good health but only found in fish oil and a few other foods. However, our intake of Omega-6, which is a fat found in corn, soy, sunflower and other oils, is too high. The ideal ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 should be 1:1, but the typical American's ratio ranges greater than 20 to 1.

Omega-3 oils are essential to good glucose tolerance, and you need to remember that the worst fat of all is abundant in American diets - trans-fatty acids. Cells cannot get glucose or vitamin C inside when those cell walls are made by DuPont!

While Omega-3 can also be found in flaxseed, walnuts and a few other foods, the most beneficial form of Omega-3 - containing two fatty acids, DHA and EPA, that are essential to fighting and preventing both physical and mental disease - can only be found in fish. Unfortunately, fish often contains harmful mercury and other toxins, making it unsafe to consume in large quantities. Fish of all varieties from all water sources are now showing dangerously high levels of the tasteless but highly toxic metal, mercury.

Carlson's fish oil is one of the few brands that includes extra vitamin E, so you don't have to take extra vitamin E if you don't want to. Finally, I really appreciate its lemony taste as opposed to the strong fish taste you get in other fish oils. I highly recommend it.

High quality fish oil. Because it's not in pill form you're forced to notice if it's rancid. Very cost effective too.

There's a lot of misconception out there regarding heart disease. Heart disease is primarily caused by oxidized LDL. You get oxidized LDL when your diet is low in stable medium chain triglycerides, and high in PUFA (poly unsaturated fatty acids, like omega3 and omega6). What's worse is when the PUFA is primarily omega 6, which causes inflammation in the body to increase and LDL to become small/dense which is more likely to oxidize.

You could have low total LDL, but have high oxLDL and still get heart disease. Conversely, you could have high total LDL but have low oxLDL and live to be 100. The cholesterol hypothesis is based on the work of Ancel Keys's 7 countries study in which he correlated *all* fat with heart disease in 7 countries. That's really it. And there were actually way more countries, but it didn't fit Keys's theory so he dropped him. No true scientist does this. For example, France and Nordic countries have low heart disease, but high fat intake (including saturated). Chile has low fat but high rates of heart disease.

Getting to a 1:1 omega 3 to omega 6 ratio is key to reducing inflammation and preventing chronic diseases. But too much PUFA including omega3 is also bad. I would recommend reducing your omega 6 intake (industrialized seed oils, vegetable oils) and supplement about a tablespoon of this stuff daily. Get your fats from medium chain triglycerides (cream, coconuts, lard). This is in conflict with public dietary advice, but not with the science.

To those trying to lower triglycerides, lower your fructose intake and improve insulin sensitivity through exercise. Fish oil isn't going to cure the effects of 36 oz soda/day.

I don't generally write reviews but I thought this fish oil deserved a comment at the very least. I have tried a few different fish oils in liquid form before this one and could never stomach the taste so I stuck with the Kirkland brand fish oil softgels for years. After seeing the ratings on this stuff I decided to take the plunge and try once again because the liquid is so much more concentrated than what a pill can deliver. The taste isn't bad at all alone, just tastes like lemon oil -- no fish taste at all, and I put it on my cereal (honey nut chex) and the taste was similar to lemon cake on top of the sweet cereal. I'm hooked. For anyone who dreads the thought of fish oil, if you're anything like me, it will change the way you look at it forever.

This product is superior. After using it for a couple of weeks now, I am amazed:

- No fishy taste. Slight lemon taste.
- No fish burps whatsoever.
- No need to swallow the usual submarine-sized softgels that most all other fish oils come in.
- It contains or exceeds the amounts of EPA, DHA and Omega-3 that my cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic said should be taken in order to get any benefit from fish oils.

If you can't wait to buy it via Amazon, you can visit Carlson Laboratories website for a list of local stores that carry it.

Overall, this product breaks the mold of the typical fish oil products in the market today.

I've been using fish oil for a long time, and my children's doctor recommended it for them too. Standard capsules may be hard to swallow, and also give you "fish burps." Enteric coated capsules solve that problem, are higher in omega-3 than standard capsules, and are cheaper than Carlson. But Carlson is even higher in omega-3 than the enteric capsules, and is easy for children to take.

The lemon flavor is not a perfect solution, since it still tastes oily. After all, it's oil. But it solves a lot of problems, especially if the capsules don't work for you. And you have to take a fist full of capsules to get the benefit of a spoonful of this, so it's far more practical to use Carlson, and you can even use it on salad and avoid the process of swallowing it by the spoonful altogether. Since dressing uses oil anyway, all you gain gastronomically is a bit of a nice lemon taste.

UPDATE: After using it for a while, I found that by putting the spoon in my mouth, turning it over, and not letting it touch my lips, I don't get that oily feel. You can still lick the spoon, but the oily "taste" seems to have been something preventable.

It started about 12 years ago when I was told I had very high Triglycerides. My reading at the time was 700+. At that time, the doctor at the fitness center thought it must have been a bad reading, so I didn't think much about it. Fast forward to 4 years ago, my Triglycerides were 480+. My doctor said I need to go on Tricor. I ignored this and said I'll exercise more. I didn't exercise as much as I promised and my next reading was still 480+. I compromised with the doctor and took Lovaza (Omacor was the name at the time), my next blood test was good, a little over 200. I had two issues with Lovaza, it was expensive and I had to take 4 big pills each day. In addition, I did not like the fishy after taste that I continually got. This time the doctor said, take Tricor as it's just one pill. I still liked the natural fish oil approach rather than being pushed into Tricor (maybe others can swear by Tricor, but I felt compelled inwardly to look further), so continued searching. I ended up reading reviews on Carlsons Lemon Fish Oil. I immediately pushed back since it was liquid. I can't stand liquid medicines. But review after review said it's not bad at all. So, I went down to the Medicine Shoppe (and was able to get the online price) and gave it a try. It was really smooth, and tasted good. The taste is closer to a lemon oil or lemon water than it is to anything fish related. After six months, I took my blood test and my Triglycerides are 200. A doctor will say, not perfect, but I will live and work with that number. My results were actually a bit lower than when on the perscription Lovaza.