What’s the deal with fish oil?

So says the first line of Paul Greenberg’s story on fish oil. Which is weird for me because I had been wondering this very thing in my bathroom the other day while staring at my wife’s bottle of omega-3 pills.

Nearly every fish a fish eater likes to eat eats menhaden. Bluefin tuna, striped bass, redfish and bluefish are just a few of the diners at the menhaden buffet. All of these fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids but are unable themselves to synthesize them. The omega-3s they have come from menhaden.

Menhaden are also top-notch algae eaters and, no surprise, overfished. (via djacobs)

Update: Bad Science questions whether fish oil is actually beneficial. (thx, phil)

• fish
• food
• Paul Greenberg