If you’ve ever perused the shelves in your local health food store and spotted a brand selling omega-3 fish oil capsules for obscenely low prices, you’d be right to ask yourself: Should I just buy the cheapest and save my money? What’s the difference?
It’s an expensive time to be alive. We’re all getting a bit twitchy about our finances and looking for ways to cut back. When we came across a tub of fish oil capsules for £1.19 for 30 capsules, we were shook (as the kids say). It’s a bargain, right?
No. Sorry. It’s just another thing to lob onto the temu pile of ‘too good to be true’.
What does that £1.19 cover (we did some maths)
- The plastic pot (they use plastic; we use glass or a recyclable pouch)
- The label
- The encapsulation process (filling the capsules)
- Warehousing and delivery
- The warehousing costs
- Delivery costs
= Let’s say that’s 40p per pot all in (and that’s a VERY low estimate – it costs us significantly more than that).
That leaves 59p for the oil in all 30 capsules. Are you starting to wonder about the quality of this supplement? You’re paying 2p per capsule. Think about that…
And we haven’t even added the percentage the retailer will take, which is at least 40-60%, and of course, VAT, which is 99p. Not to mention, we have no idea where their fish oil comes from, what the capsules are made of, whether it’s tested for heavy metals and purity, etc.
We compared our Life & Soul Daily Capsules (not even our ultra-strength oil) with 23 other leading omega-3 products.
Price-wise, we place somewhere in the top of the middle. But here’s something to consider. Of the 14 cheaper products, only 3 had any certifications for purity or sustainability.
Certified oils are more likely to come from responsibly fished species, avoiding overfishing and harmful fishing practices, and are tested for oxidation and contamination. The bargains won’t be.
But wait, it gets worse! Here’s how the strength adds up (and what that 2p per capsule really costs you)
| Capsule | EPA | DHA | Total EPA + DHA |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1.19 brand | 90mg | 60mg | 150mg |
| Bare Biology | 1,100mg | 500mg | 1,600mg |
Yep, that means Life & Soul daily capsules have:
- 12× more EPA
- 8× more DHA
- Over 10× more total omega-3 than the bargain basement offering.
The average combined EPA and DHA across all those competitors (even the spenny ones) was 1,101 mg. That’s a whopping 45% less potent than our Life & Soul daily capsules. Compare that to our Life & Soul liquid, and it’s 88% more potent than the most concentrated competitor on the list.
Cool. So what does the strength mean for you?
If your daily dose only gives you 150mg of omega-3, you’re falling far below the levels shown in research to actually make a difference. Most of the health claims that convinced you to take omega-3 in the first place reference research studies that use much higher doses. Here’s what 1,000-2,000 mg has been shown to support:
- Heart health: reducing the risk of heart disease and heart attack.
- Brain health: reducing symptoms of mild depression, and anxiety.
- ADHD: a daily dose of 500–1000mg of combined EPA and DHA has been shown to be beneficial and safe and effective in helping support children, while improving reading, cognition and behaviour in children and adolescents.
- Menopause: effective for women experiencing depression during menopause.
- Reproductive health: reduced symptoms of PMS and supports conception.
- Muscle health: omega-3 helps the body build and preserve muscle as we age.
We could, and often do, go on (there are over 50,000 studies investigating omega-3). Sign up for our newsletters if you’re hungry for more science-backed answers to your health questions.
That £1.19 fish oil is an extreme example of an incredibly cheap fish oil supplement, but it’s 100% real. We saw it with our own eyes and took the photo. When you do the math to see what you’re paying for the actual ingredients, it’s rather scary…
Not only are you paying for an oil too low to do what you came here for (like drinking Schloer to get drunk), it’s also like shopping for steak in the pet food section. The difference is that stark.
