Cod Liver Oil vs Omega-3 for pain & inflammation
Short answer: For pain & inflammation, more users report improvement with Omega-3 — 93% of 112 reports, versus 86% of 7 for Cod Liver Oil.
Cod Liver Oil has 3 meta-analyses and 33 randomized trials on PubMed; Omega-3 has 1,341 and 3,093.
Based on 120 reports about Cod Liver Oil and 3,026 about Omega-3. Not medical advice.
| Cod Liver Oil Supplement | Omega-3 Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 67%helped32 reports · medium confidence | 69%helped968 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 3 / 33 | 1,341 / 3,093 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Mood % reporting improvement | 67% (6) | 86% (289) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | 100% (3) | 85% (172) |
| Pain & inflammation % reporting improvement | 86% (7) | 93% (112) |
| Heart & lipids % reporting improvement | — | 83% (108) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 100% (3) | 74% (84) |
| Common side effects | excessive nose, vitamin a, diarrhea, fish burps | fish burps, stomach issues, vivid dreams, fishy burps |
| Typical dose reported | 1000 mg / daily | 500/250 mg / daily |
Ongoing studies support advice to adhere to a healthy balanced diet, with the addition of folic acid and a multi-vitamin suitable for pregnancy. There is new evidence suggesting probiotics and cod-liver oil supplementation may improve glycaemic control and also the important consideration of the psychological influences of eating.
Int J Clin Pract, 2021 ↗“I have also taken Nordic Naturals fish oil and their cod liver oil before, and I felt better on those too, not worse.”
For glycated hemoglobin, there was no significant effect in the meta-analysis. This systematic review with meta-analysis demonstrated that supplementation with omega-3 has protective effects on diabetes parameters.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2022 ↗“I do supplement a lot of fish oil and vitamin A as retinyl palmitate though. It has really helped my depression, anxiety and ADHD and has enabled me to stop using more serious psychiatric drugs for those things.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate