Recommended Intake

The American Heart Association recommends that patients with coronary heart disease should ingest about 1,000 mg/day of EPA+DHA, and that those without coronary heart disease should eat two servings of (preferably oily) fish per week. Such an intake would provide roughly 400-500 mg/day of EPA+DHA, and is a reasonable target intake. Others recommend a wider range of intake, 250-500 mg/day. For patients with very high serum triglyceride levels, a dose of 3,000-4,000 mg/day of EPA+DHA is recommended. There is currently only one pharmaceutical omega-3 fatty acids product available in the US, and it has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of very high triglycerides (>500 mg/dL). The FDA has also ruled that intakes of up to 3,000 mg/day of EPA+DHA combined from foods is “Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)” and may be consumed without concern of adverse effects by all adults.