Krill Oil Vs Fish Oil – Which To Use and Why

It seems that virtually every day a new finding is made about the extraordinary health benefits of omega-3 fats. It’s well known that these essential fats have a protective effect on your heart, plus they have now been proven to provide broad anti-inflammatory effects and can therefore be applied to any inflammatory conditions (heat, pain, swelling, etc.). In the realm of animal-based omega-3 fats, krill oil and fish oil are the two major players. But which is best and why?

First, Why Do We Need Omega-3 Fats?

The benefits of omega-3 fats go far beyond normalizing your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Studies have shown these fats to be:

Antiarrhythmic: counteracting or preventing cardiac arrhythmia
Antithrombotic: tending to prevent thrombosis (a blood clot within a blood vessel)
Antiatherosclerotic: preventing fatty deposits and fibrosis of the inner layer of your arteries from forming
Anti-inflammatory: counteracting inflammation (heat, pain, swelling, etc.). A new study actually shows how omega-3 fats result in such broad anti-inflammatory effects.

Further, omega-3 fat improves endothelial function, a major factor in promoting the growth of new blood vessels, and has beneficial effects on your heart’s electrical system, preventing potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorders.

Krill Oil or Fish Oil?

Fish oil is certainly more widely known, and this is related to the fact that the bulk of the published studies are done with fish oil and not krill oil. However, not one but two recent studies illustrate the superior benefits of krill oil over fish oil. The first study, published in January, found that the metabolic effects of the two oils are “essentially similar,” but that krill oil is as effective as fish oil despite the fact that it contains less EPA and DHA. This finding corresponds with unpublished data suggesting that krill oil is absorbed up to 10-15 times as well as fish oil, which would explain this discrepancy.

Separate research published in the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition compared the efficiency of krill oil and fish oil in reducing triglyceride levels. After six weeks of supplementation, cholesterol levels in the krill oil group declined by 33 percent, compared to 21 percent in the fish oil group.

Furthermore, liver triglycerides were reduced by TWICE as much in the krill oil group compared to the fish oil group, by 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively. This is particularly important, as fasting triglyceride levels are a powerful indication of your body’s ability to have healthy lipid profiles.