Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Cod Liver Oil

Cod liver oil is an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin D, essential fatty acids EPA and DHA and Omega 3 oils. These are essential to proper function of the brain and nervous system.

check out this article from WestonAPrice.org - there are some really impressive claims about how cod liver oil helps with arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, etc.

I bought some originally for C since he has some speech delays and many speech therapists prescribe cod liver oil to add the brain. I just went to the health food store and picked up the common brand Nordic Naturals.

BUT. Turns out this is kind of like buying a "diamond ring" from Target LOL. The nutrients in NN arent even comparable to a real, quality, cod live oil. NN gets their oil from sardines and anchovies - vs. um, COD (go figure). The brands Ill list below get theirs from deep-sea Noregian cod. NN uses Vitamin E derived from SOY (I was really not happy to find this out) wherease a quality brand will use natural preservative like rosemary oil (also an antioxidant).

So. I am going to buy some more soon and really the good stuff is not that much more expensive. Generally adults take 1/2 tsp (its good for us too!) and children take 1/4 tsp so its lasts for quite awile.

Dr. Ron's Blue Ice Cod Liver Oil
(in cinammon, orange and mint)
$23.95 for 8 oz

Quantam Cod Liver Oil $15 for 8 oz

Weston Price recommended taking your Cod Liver Oil with a butter oil blend form pastured cows. Dr. Ron's site offers that choice as well. For a family of 4 it will last 45 days so thats $1 a day.

Ill write more later specifically on Vit D but from what Ive been reading, it is VERY important and MOST of us are not getting enough.

.

5 comments:

Kid Feed Mommy said...

Our family has really liked Carlson's fish oil (www.carlsonlabs.com). Great prices can be found at iherb.com.

We've only done the fish oil - haven't tried cod liver oil yet. But I'm interested after reading your post about it!

Green Republican said...

Ok, as I'm sitting here staring at my bottle of Nordic Naturals Artic Cod Liver Oil, it doesn't have the vitamin E listed in the ingredients list... it's written below the ingredients list, so could it be so miniscule that it didn't even have to be put on the label at all?

My bottle says rosemary oil in the ingredients list and the description on the bottle says they use artic cod - and it goes into detail about how quickly they process the cod right after being caught.

I buy Nordic Naturals or Carlson's because of the low mercury content, which is an issue for lots of other brands. Both of these brands were highly recommended by several "child brain developmentalists." :)

Thoughts?

On a side note, I've heard krill oil is way better than cod liver oil so I'm dying to try that next! :)

Rachel said...

The soy-based vitamin E is used in the CHILDRENS brand that we bought (the one i put the link for). They may have better choices for the adults Im not sure.

The cod liver oils I linked at the bottom of the page are mercury-FREE and are the brands recommended by Weston Price.

Rachel said...

From the NN childrens bottle:

Vitamin A 750.00 IU

Vitamin D 10.00 IU

Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) 15.00 IU 150%

From the Rons Blue Ice
(kids take half a dose)

Vitamin A 5750 IUs
Vitamin D 575 IUs

Green Republican said...

Thank you! I didn't realize they even made children's versions of it! I just buy the orange flavor and the girls take it right off the spoon.

I didn't realize the d-alpha tocopherol was the vitamin E... So yup, it's the second ingredient on my list too. *sigh*

Well, we'll finish this bottle and then I'll switch to krill oil. :) We go through a bottle pretty quickly as I take 1 tablespoon a day and the girls take 1 teaspoon every few days. And then hubby runs in there and take a tablespoon on occasion too.