Taking fish oil supplements at only 3g/d of EPA and DHA seems to cause an increase in resting metabolic rate and the amount of energy burned while exercising.
I’ve never been a fan of fish oil because I think it gives me heartburn, but maybe I can time it in such a way that it doesn’t. I think I’m going to give it a try.
Some fish oil doesn’t give me heartburn, but you have to find one that doesn’t. This was was good for me:
I also bought some fish oil from Costco that was okay.
One caveat about taking fish oil. There’s some evidence that (higher amounts of) fish oil can cause atrial fibrillation:
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.057464
When I take fish oil, which isn’t that often, I keep under 1g/day.
Edit: I got sucked into a Black Friday sale and got some fish oil because I had to order a certain amount to get free shipping. I ordered minerals and D/K2, then ran out of things to order. So, I ordered fish oil. I’ll give it another try.
My “problem” with fish oil is that I don’t perceive a benefit. I could be getting a benefit (maybe lower inflammation for instance), but I can’t “feel” that. So, I take fish oil for a bottle, quit, and can’t tell a difference.
Even the study you cited, even if you get those benefits, they might be hard to tell. What does an increase in metabolic rate of 14% mean in terms of how you perceive this? That’s the hard part of n=1 studies.
Looking backward, I did lose some weight, I think while taking fish oil (from Costco - not sure the dosage). I stopped taking it and got heavier again.
That’s the problem – we can’t really test something like metabolic rate.
Since I’m going to Costco tonight, I am going to see what they have. The version I bought from the online store has more DHA than EPA, which I’m not sure that’s what I want. It also has vitamins A and E. Not sure I need those. I’ll probably get whatever Costco has, which did not cause “fish burps” for me last time. We’ll see what happens this time.
That is because it lacks what it needs to make it easily absorbable. I use krill oil and calamari oil instead because they don’t have the mercury concerns, and I don’t burb them. Unfortunately my source of calamari oil is in ester form, but if you really want you could probably find the triglyceride form online. Calamariy oil is very high in DHA, and offsets the krill oil that way…