Comparing Costs of Enteric Fish Oil Supplements

I needed to order some more enteric-coated fish oil capsules, and the warehouse club that had been my trusty supplier discontinued all of its useful supplements, seemingly in favor of cheese platters and bagels.  I ordered some Kirkland brand from Amazon (since I had luck with the warehouse brand before) and got terrible fish burps from them, so, of to iHerb, I went, my trusty supplier, and found that the types and costs were all over the map.  For my own sanity I made a spreadsheet so I could calculate the cost per g of EPA and figured it would be worth sharing here, since there’s such a wide disparity and access to concentration value seems hard to come by.

I knew that there is some shenanigans afoot in the enteric-coating business, since the Kirkland “enteric coated” capsules gave me the fish burps, which would be impossible if the enteric coat was real, so I figured I might need to try some different brands to try some.  Note: I’ve excluded all the enteric-coated items that are not ‘molecularly distilled’ since I have a fish allergy and am not fond of consuming mercury nor PCB’s.  Nobody should be consuming those.

Finding #1: the “Maximum Strength” capsules from 21st Century Health Care are by far the best value if you don’t mind swallowing pills.  Finding #1a: they give me fish burps.  Finding #1b: “Maximum Strength” is a meaningless label at only 200mg per capsule.

Finding #2:  Natural Factors’ “Ultra Strength” is almost twice as expensive per g of EPA, but is the least expensive with an enteric-coating that works.  So, Finding #2a: no fish burps.  The concentration is really good – few capsules are required.

In sum, I’m taking the cheaper ones before bed and the more expensive ones during the day.  I did not need to progress up the scale beyond the second attempt.  Do you know of better values?  Leave a comment.