Cardiologists generally seem to have a favorable opinion with regard to "fish oil." When I mentioned to mine that I was trying them out he initially seemed not much impressed; but he called back later to suggest that I triple the dose I was taking. (Then, about a month later, he left town - but that's probably an unrelated decision?)

The currently popular capsules are reportedly all produced by a single factory in a small Norwegian(?) village, where they have developed a "microencapsulation" process that theoretically keeps the taste from being evident. The actual oil is released only as the gelatin capsule dissolves in your gut. If you happen to get some from another maker, with "loose oil" in them, you definitely will notice the different "flavor."

I don't know whether there has been an actual improvement, but comparison of capsules purchased recently with a few left over from some months back does show about a 30% reduction in the size of the capsules labelled as having the same content. If the capsule size has been a problem, a bit of shopping may find some slight improvement. In my area, though, the price per capsule seems about the same for 1200 mg as for 600 mg. A few 300 mg capsules I've seen have been cheaper; but not less than half the 600 mg price. Taking twice as many half-size ones probably will cost a bit more; but may be worth the difference if you have trouble with swallowing the big ones.

Typical labelling is as Omega-3 Fish Oil, and capsules in my area are available fairly readily in 600 mg and (less easily) 1200 mg sizes. The size on the label, however, refers to the amoung of "oil of fish" and what you really want is the "Omega-3" that's generally a small fraction of the oil.

Typical "1200 mg Fish Oil" capsules locally available in my area now show an analysis of:

Daily dose 2 capsules:
Natural Fish Oil 2400 mg
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 720 mg

This Omega-3 content is slightly different than for capsules purchased some months back.

The specific caps available at places where I shop have changed from time to time, which suggests that you need to read the fine print to see what you're actually getting. The literature touting the benefits sometimes quote a recommended "maximum dose" of 2400 mg per day, apparently meaning the amount of "raw fish oil." I haven't seen much of anything that references a recommended "Omega-3" dose, even though they all say it's the only thing that really matters. There seems to be no particular serious side effects from overdose, although it doesn't seem to have been much examined.

A fringe benefit of taking the fish oil caps is that it does seem to have some "stool softening" effect, and a number of common other pharmaceuticals prescribed for lipid control, blood pressure, control, and platelet binding do have "constipation" as a fairly frequent side effect.

John