Select healthy, safe fish oil: I want to take fish oil to ward off menopause symptoms, but I'm concerned about mercury. Is it safer to eat fish or take supplements? - Ask the experts: answers to your questions from the leaders in natural medicine - Brief Article

Natural Health, April, 2003

ADRIANE FUGH-BERMAN, M.D., REPLIES: Fish oil is worth adding to your diet. Although no evidence shows that it helps menopause symptoms, the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil do help protect your cardiovascular system and may help prevent depression, according to studies.

Eating fish holds no particular advantage over taking supplements (or vice versa). To lower cardiovascular risk factors, studies have used 1 to 4 g of omega-3 fatty acids a day. Depression studies have used even higher doses: about 10 g of omega-3 fatty acids per day. Fish that are high in oil include anchovies, bluefish, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, and swordfish. A 4-ounce serving of these fish contains about 1.5 g of omega-3 fatty acids.

If you have concerns about mercury, you may want to eat the smaller varieties of fatty fish: anchovies, herring (kippers are usually smoked herring), and sardines. Larger, older fish accumulate more mercury. For example, swordfish and king mackerel (as well as shark and tilefish) contain high levels of mercury, and pregnant and nursing women should avoid them, according to the Food and Drug Administration. (Mercury, which can harm the nervous system, is the most threatening to a developing fetus but isn't good for anyone.) Fish oil supplements usually come from menhaden, a small and extremely fatty fish that is not generally considered edible (fishermen use cutup menhaden as chum to attract fish). As a small fish, menhaden would be expected to be low in mercury.