Is enteric-coated fish oil better utilized by the body?

June 9, 2011 12:35 PM

Aside from preventing fishy burps, is there any significant nutritional advantage to taking enteric-coated fish oil supplements over their non-enteric coated counterpart? I’ve seen ads claim that the enteric coating helps to preserve the fish oil from stomach acid and bile until it reaches the small intestine - is there any scientific basis to this? Generally speaking, will the body utilize one better than the other?
posted by invisible ink to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

Fish don't come out of the water with an enteric coating and humans seem to have derived benefit from eating them for millennia, so I'm not sure preserving the oil through the stomach environment is of any benefit whatsoever.

Note also that most fish oil studies (at least that I'm aware of, though haven't read up a lot lately) have been conducted on non-enteric caps of liquid oil, leaving open the question of whether or not coating diminishes the benefits of taking them in the first place. Personally I quite enjoy the odd mackerel belch now and then.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 5:24 PM on June 9, 2011

I couldn't help with the enteric coating thing. I keep mine in the fridge along with all the other easily spoilables including flax oil and I rarely get burps. From what I gather most fish oil caps are rancid by the time you buy them and thus you end up with the fish burps. I'm not sure how true that is but it does seem likely, although I don't know how you would prevent that if it were the case. Like I said I usually just buy some cheap at the local store, preferably in a darkened/tinted bottle, stick them in fridge when I get home and take them with food.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:46 PM on June 13, 2011