Clarification of salmon oil dosage

[Keira25]

I am trying to avoid having my 8 year old girl go on medication for her arthritis. I am starting grain free (she had been on Eagle Pack Holistic Duck) and she's been getting Dasuquin with MSM and salmon oil. I recently had the suggestion to greatly increase her dose of sockeye salmon oil which I get from Vital Choice. I did read one of Peter's posts where he said a vet in Canada had recommended one 1000 mg capsule per day for each 10 -20 pounds of body weight, 14 pills a day in my case. This amount was recommended to me as well. My only concern is that would my dog be getting too much vitamin A and D? Isn't there a point where this might be too much? I've given her 5 pills with each of her meals for a total of 10 a day for 2 days with no side-effects so far.

 

[Peter Maniate]

Most sources now recommend 1000 mg of salmon oil per 20 lbs of body weight including Vital Choice with their new pet version of sockeye salmon oil in the pump bottle.

One of the "advantages" of using the Vital Choice version is that in the unprocessed version you get the full range of vitamins and other important nutrients, even more so with the pet version which is not even cold filtered.

The ancestral diet of the Newfoundland was primarily whole raw fatty fish which meant that they were getting much more of the oil than we give in modern times and they were much healthier back then.

 

[Ginny]

Most sources now recommend 1000 mg of salmon oil per 20 lbs of body weight including Vital Choice with their new pet version of sockeye salmon oil in the pump bottle.

One of the "advantages" of using the Vital Choice version is that in the unprocessed version you get the full range of vitamins and other important nutrients, even more so with the pet version which is not even cold filtered.

The ancestral diet of the Newfoundland was primarily whole raw fatty fish which meant that they were getting much more of the oil than we give in modern times and they were much healthier back then.

Peter, do you know if the ingredients in Vital Choice been verified by a reputable lab? There are bogus labs out there supposedly rubber stamping manufacturer submitted ingredients in neutraceuticals rather than truly analyzing them. I've read that some neutraceuticals have been found to contain dangerous components.

 

[CMDRTED]

This is from ViatChoice's Site Just informaiton. I have used it for about 5 years in the original human form. Looks Like I'll be switcyhing next time I order.

Hope this is a help. I know Peter is way-a-mundo much more knowledgeable than I will ever be.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

<< Back to Main FAQ Page
How does your Wild Salmon Oil for Pets differ from the Wild Salmon Oil for people?
Vital Choice Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Oil for Pets is identical to our Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Oil for people, with these three exceptions:

1. Salmon Oil for Pets does not undergo micro-filtering, which means it may contain tiny bits of salmon protein, and has slightly higher omega-3 levels, compared with our micro-filtered Salmon Oil for People .
2. Salmon Oil for Pets is not certified pure and potent by NSF.
3. Salmon Oil for Pets is not tested for PCBs/dioxins. However, the very same salmon oil is used for our Salmon Oil for People, and that oil is tested for PCBs/dioxins, so it is reasonable to presume that those results apply to both products.

Since our Salmon Oil for Pets is not certified by an independent group such as NSF, how can you be sure that it is safe and nutritious for your pet?

• First and foremost, wild Alaskan salmon is universally ranked among the purest fish in the sea, by private and public agencies alike. (For example, Alaskan salmon is caregorized "Super Green" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, meaning that is both sustainably harvested and exceptionally pure.) For more on this topic, visit our Purity page.
• And every harvest year, all of our sockeye salmon oil (whether it is destined for human or pet use) undergoes an initial test for nutrient content (omega-3s/vitamin A/vitamin D) and contaminants, including mercury, heavy metals, arsenic, bacteria, yeast, fungi, and oxidation. Those test results apply to our Salmon Oil for Pets and can be provided upon request.

Our Salmon Oil for People undergoes a second round of tests overseen by NSF, that includes tests for PCBs/dioxins, in order to earn NSF certification and the blue NSF seal you'll see on the Salmon Oil for People products.

How is our Salmon Oil for Pets produced?
Like our regular Sockeye Salmon Oil for people, our Salmon Oil for Pets is steam-extracted from the heads of freshly harvested sockeye salmon, and kept stored under nitrogen in sealed containers until it is ready to be bottled. Processing temperatures never exceed 250 degrees F, to protect its omega-3 fatty acids.

Like our Salmon Oil for People, our Salmon Oil for Pets is not chemically refined or distilled, so it closely reflects the nutritional profile of its source sockeye salmon, making it a “whole food” supplement.
In addition to ample omega-3s, our Salmon Oil for Pets provides small amounts of vitamin D, vitamin A, and astaxanthin (the orange-hued, carotene-class antioxidant pigment natural to wild salmon).

 

[CMDRTED]

Here is Part 2:

Our Purity Story

Click here to learn why the nuclear accident in Japan is very unlikely to affect our seafood.


Rest assured ... our wild fish and shellfish are exceptionally pure and safe.

Alaskan Salmon
paragons of wild purity

​

Alaskan Salmon – and their close-by Canadian companions – are relatively small, short-lived fish that swim in pristine waters and eat fairly low on the food chain.

Consequently, they contain far lower levels of contaminants than those found in larger, longer-lived, mostly carnivorous species.

For these reasons, the EPA, FDA, Alaska Division of Public Health and virutally all eco and health NGOs recommend wild Alaskan Salmon without reservation.


And unlike farmed Salmon, wild Alaskan Salmon species grow free of antibiotics, pesticides, synthetic coloring agents, growth hormones, and GMOs.

“The risk of mercury in Salmon appears to be minimal. In fact, the FDA states that limiting consumption is unnecessary for [wild] Salmon.”
– Environmental Working Group

Here's the story:

Vital Choice seafood is very low in mercury
All of our fish are free of hazardous levels of mercury, for two reasons:

1. We feature species that are inherently low in mercury:
   Salmon, Sablefish, Sardines, Scallops, Prawns, and Crab.
2. We offer only younger, smaller (therefore, minimal-mercury) members of predatory species (Halibut and Albacore Tuna).

Tests of Vital Choice seafood show that it is very low in mercury, as shown
in our Mercury Chart.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was very conservative in setting the legal limit for mercury at 1 ppm (parts per million), which is 10 times lower than the very lowest level associated with mercury poisoning.
The minuscule amounts of mercury in our fish fall very far below this conservative safety level.

For example:

• Vital Choice Salmon: At 0.03 to 0.05 parts per million (ppm) mercury, our wild Salmon (Sockeye, Silver and King) has about 25 times less mercury than is allowed under FDA rules (1 ppm).
• Vital Choice Tuna: At 0.08 ppm, our small, troll-caught Albacore Tuna has 4 times less mercury, compared with standard canned Albacore (0.34 ppm).
• Vital Choice Halibut: At 0.08 ppm, our Halibut has 3 times less mercury, compared with standard Halibut (0.26 ppm).
• Vital Choice Sablefish: At 0.07 ppm, our Sablefish has 3 times less mercury, compared with standard Sablefish (0.22 ppm).

Why is seafood so clearly safe, despite mercury?
The form of mercury found in fish (methymercury) harms the nervous system and brain because it attaches to selenium in the body.

Every molecule of methylmercury you consume makes one molecule of selenium unavailable to antioxidant enzymes that protect your brain against free radicals, and require this essential mineral to function.

Yet, children and adults who consume far more fish than Americans do show no signs of harm from mercury. This is because almost all ocean fish contain much more selenium than mercury.

New science exposes most
fish-mercury fears as baseless
Overwhelming evidence indicates that the risks from mercury in ocean fish* (not freshwater fish) are negated by their far higher levels of selenium.


We highly recommend the videos and brochures at Fish, Mercury, and Nutrition, which reflect the latest findings and feature the leading scientific experts on these subjects.


And, in two other videos, one of these experts -- Nick Ralston, Ph.D., -- explains why populations who eat far more ocean fish than Americans show no signs of harm ... click here to view Ralston on Seafood Safety & Selenium Part I and Ralston Part II.












For more on this topic, see "Most fish Rank as Very Safe on New Selenium-Based Standard", "Fight over Mercury Risk Muddied by Bad Science", "Mercury-Fighting Mineral in Fish Overlooked," and "Findings Verify Safety and Value of Higher Maternal Fish Intake".






*The only exception is frequent consumption of marine mammals (whale, porpoise) or the few fish that are extremely high in mercury (shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel).


Shark, whale meat, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel are the few exceptions to the near-universal rule that ocean fish have more selenium than mercury. (Note: Our Portuguese mackerel is a different species that has very little mercury and ample selenium.)

 

[CMDRTED]

Last Part:

The two studies cited as evidence that seafood-rich diets might cause slight developmental harm involved children who ate lots of shark (New Zealand) or pilot whale (the Faroe Islands). Unsurprisingly, both shark and pilot whale contain much more mercury than selenium, and pilot whale is very high in PCBs and other industrial contaminants.

We highly recommend the videos and brochures at Fish, Mercury, and Nutrition, which reflect the latest findings and feature the leading scientific experts on these subjects.

The excellent brochures found there include “What's the Story with Ocean Fish?” and “Selenium and Mercury: Fishing for Answers”.

How much fish is safe to eat?
The answer to that varies by species and consumer. You can consult the fish intake calculator at howmuchfish.com, which shows the amount of each species people can safely eat, based on US government mercury-intake guidelines.

If anything, the intake limits provided there are conservative, because they do not take into account the fact that almost all ocean fish contain far more selenium than mercury.

The organization behind howmuchfish.com, called the Center for Consumer Freedom, is funded in part by industry, but the fish-intake advice in its calculator directly reflect the limits set by official U.S. mercury-intake guidelines.

Note: The descriptive text that howmuchfish.com provides about farmed salmon says that wild and farmed salmon offer nearly identical nutritional profiles.

In reality, while wild and farmed salmon are equally high in omega-3s, farmed salmon is much higher in omega-6 fatty acids (due to its grain/soy-based diet), which tend to block absorption of omega-3s and exert pro-inflammatory effects in the body. See "Farmed Salmon's Diet Yields Unhealthful Cardiovascular Effects" and the "Omega-3 / Omega-6 Balance" section of our News Archive.


Vital Choice seafood is very low in PCBs
As is the case with mercury, our fish are inherently low in PCBs, either because they are naturally short-lived or because we pick only young, small members of the species (e.g., our Halibut and Tuna).


The traces of PCBs in wild salmon are so minuscule that, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, it is completely safe to enjoy these fish freely and frequently.


The levels of PCBs in our wild Alaskan and Canadian salmon – about 2 parts per billion – are 1,000 times lower than the safety limit of 2 parts per million set both by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the U.S. FDA. To learn more, see our About PCBs page.
http://www.nsf.org/index.asp
Our certified-pure Sockeye Salmon Oil
Thanks to the inherent purity of the source fish, our Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Oil contains no detectable mercury (<0.01 ppm) and minuscule traces of PCBs that are comparable to the traces found in standard, chemically refined fish oils.


To learn how our Salmon Oil is produced, click here.

The purity and potency of our Sockeye Salmon Oil are tested and certified by NSF International.

Antibiotics in farmed seafoodhttp://www.nsf.org/index.asp
Most of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported, and much of it is farm-raised, with little oversight regarding use of antibiotic drugs or additives.
While the U.S. government has standards that should ban imports with high levels of antibiotics in seafood, there is essentially no enforcement. To learn more, see “Foreign Shrimp Farms Drive Health and Eco Dangers”.
Related Links
Average Mercury levels in common seafoods (PDF chart)
Mercury Comparison: Standard Tuna, Halibut, and Sablefish versus Vital Choice products (PDF chart)
EPA/FDA advice on mercury in fish and shellfish
Are Mercury Fears Overblown? (seafood industry Website)
US EPA: Mercury Study Report to Congress
FDA Report on Mercury in Seafood Species
Alaska Division of Public Health
Results of two year study of Alaskan Seafood
EPA Mercury Update (PDF file)
PCB levels in common foods (chart)
Interpreting the 2005 CDC Biomonitoring Data for Dioxins

 

[Keira25]

Thanks for all the info. I still have several bottles of the human kind left, but it looks like I could save some money switching to the pet version. I didn't even know they made it. Appreciate the replies and especially the clarification on the dosage.

 

[Peter Maniate]

Peter, do you know if the ingredients in Vital Choice been verified by a reputable lab? There are bogus labs out there supposedly rubber stamping manufacturer submitted ingredients in neutraceuticals rather than truly analyzing them. I've read that some neutraceuticals have been found to contain dangerous components.

Looks like Commander Ted has covered this question well. All I can do is second his answer. If Ted keeps this up, I'll soon be consulting him on diet for Newfs.

Vital Choice is a very reputable company and everyone who has used their sockeye oil seems to be extremely satisfied with it. The new pet version is a real bonus taking us even closer to the ancestral diet.

 

[Peter Maniate]

Goofed and accidentally posted twice. Sorry!

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

Our surgeon recently explained to me that its the EPA (rather than the DHA) in the salmon oil that helps with inflammation and arthritis. A good quality product will list both DHA and EPA content. For Maggie, he recommended a salmon oil with 2880mg of EPA per day. She is 130 lbs. (I am trying Welactin Omega. It's a liquid rather than capsules.) We just started a week or so ago.

 

[luvmynwfy]

Hi
I also used the salmon oil caps from Vital choice and recently we've been using the Pet salmon oil in the bottle/with pump. They told me 3/4 of a tsp is equivalent to one serving or 1000mg. One strong pump for me is close enough to 3/4 tsp. As part of Timber's cancer protocol I was giving her 14,000 mg /day, sometimes even more. Its been 5 months since we've upped her dose and she had no problems with digestion, bowel movement or anything that I could see. Up until last month I had her liver and kidney's tests performed monthly and an anticoagulant (sp?) test done as anti inflammatories are blood thinners. She always tested fine.
I really like the liquid formula and will continue to use it.
Marina
I should add she weighs 100lbs

 

[CMDRTED]

Looks like Commander Ted has covered this question well. All I can do is second his answer. If Ted keeps this up, I'll soon be consulting him on diet for Newfs.

Vital Choice is a very reputable company and everyone who has used their sockeye oil seems to be extremely satisfied with it. The new pet version is a real bonus taking us even closer to the ancestral diet.

I feel very honored!

 

[Joan Fisher]

Giving your Newf one 213g(6.5oz) can of pink or sockeye salmon provides 4g(4000mg) of omega 3's - http://www.goldseal.ca/health/nutrient_salmon.asp; two 100g tins of sardines provide the same amt, as does 200g of canned mackerel - http://www.tufts.edu/med/nutrition-infection/hiv/health_omega3.html. I give Tiika two Omega 3 capsules a day providing 1260mg/day, plus 2500mg per day from Hemp Hearts added to her food, plus she gets a total of 33,200 from her salmon, sardines and mackerel in a week. That works out to an average of 8503mg per day.

 

[Bojie]

Ive been using vital choice for 5 years now, and I just got the pet version of their salmon oil, was originally using human form. I also take the pill form for myself from Vital Choice. I love the company.

 

[dumainedogs]

I've been using the vital choice human for Obie for quite awhile .. (had just gotten a 3 bottle order when I noticed the pet version) I've been happy with it and also used it in my corgi's food when I was making a special diet for her renal failure.

 

[Ginny]

Convinced!!! Just ordered some. :nod:

 

[new_2_newf]

Hey meg....do you find you get BAD smelling burps with the caps when you take them?

 

[Bojie]

Hey meg....do you find you get BAD smelling burps with the caps when you take them?

I do not, and I actually hate fish, so it would be HUGE if I had them. I notice a very big difference when I take them ( I was off them for a few months because I forgot to reorder) My energy level is up, I feel less tired, and my coat looks better;-) In all seriousness, I really do notice a HUGE difference in my overall well being. Plus, all my patients are on fish oil as a supplement prescribed by their doctors, which is why I started taking it for myself. My cholesterol has always been high since I was younger, so it is a huge help.

 

[Elizabeth]

Does fish oil help with high triglycerides in humans? Also, should puppies be on salmon oil?

E

 

[CMDRTED]

Does fish oil help with high triglycerides in humans? Also, should puppies be on salmon oil?

E

Yes it does, I use 8,000mg a day, has definatley lowered mine. I get a AC1 Blood test every three months and I see the difference. My triglycerides are always high (just me), so this is a big help. Niacin helps also.

I have started all my puppies on it. My breeder requires a certain amount for Tigger daily, as well as Cod Liver Oil, and Flaxseed Oil, based on her nutricianal studies she has done over the years.