Originally Posted by
Apus^2
I take fish oil to raise my good cholesterol.
Diet does not affect HDL. Pretty much the only thing one can do to raise it is to exercise or lower one's testosterone level.
The major reason to supplement with fish oil is to balance out the negative affects of too much Omega-6 in the typical diet and avoid eating fish. Too much Omega-6 can cause cardio problems (Ryan). Apparently O-6 is a blood thickener while O-3 is more of a blood thinner.
Since the meat providing animals are now corn fed vice grass fed, the O-3 content of their meat is down to nothing while the O-6 is high. Farm fed fish are also fed corn instead of their natural diet and they too are deficient in O-3. Sources are Ryan's Sport's Nutrition for Endurance Athletes and Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Fish are not only contaminated with Mercury, but PCB's and pesticides. The particular fish oil I use (Carlson) claims to test using AOAC protocols at an FDA approved lab for potency and freedom from detectable levels of mercury, cadmium, PCB's and 28 other contaminants. It all sounds good and I hope they are honest. It appears that the process used for making/extracting the oil effectively rids the oil of mercury.
Al