Mercury, lead, and PCBs — in your omega-3?

A clean omega-3 shouldn't introduce the toxins you're trying to avoid.

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June 12, 2026 11:00am EDT

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On Omega-3s

Most Fish Oil Has a Problem.
Two, Actually.

Dear -

The omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA are among the most important nutrients for your brain, eyes, and nervous system. On that point, the science is settled. DHA alone makes up more than 40% of the omega-3 fatty acids in your neural tissue — and a low omega-3 index has been linked, across more than a dozen human studies, to brain shrinkage and cognitive decline with age.

The question is not whether you need these nutrients. The question is how you're getting them.

This spring, Consumer Reports tested 20 popular fish oil supplements for heavy metals and industrial pollutants — mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, PCBs, and dioxins. These are not trace curiosities. They are the predictable consequence of extracting omega-3s from fish that live in increasingly contaminated oceans. And contamination is only the first of two problems.

The Two Problems With Most Fish Oil

Ocean Contamination Fatty fish accumulate the pollutants present in their environment — mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and heavy metals. When you concentrate fish into an oil, you concentrate those contaminants too. The omega-3 supplement meant to protect your brain can deliver a steady, low-level dose of the very toxins that harm it.

Rancidity Omega-3 oils oxidize easily. A widely cited analysis of 72 popular omega-3 products found that 45% tested positive for rancidity. An oxidized oil does not merely lose its benefit — it can become pro-inflammatory, working directly against the reason you took it.

And One Thing That Hides Both Here is what troubles me most: heavy flavoring can mask the fishy taste and smell that would otherwise warn you an oil has gone rancid. A pleasant citrus or lemon flavor is not proof of freshness. Sometimes it is the opposite.

I raise all of this not to alarm you, but because the solution is straightforward — and it shapes how I think about omega-3 supplementation entirely.

A clean omega-3 should avoid the ocean's contaminants at the source, be tested to prove it, and be protected against oxidation from the day it's bottled to the day it reaches you. When I formulated DHA+EPA Purity, those were precisely the standards I built it around.

It is derived from lab-grown algae rather than fish — so it never encounters ocean pollutants in the first place. It is third-party tested for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. And because oxidation is a genuine concern, it is bottled in dark glass and kept refrigerated in our warehouse until the moment it ships to you.

DHA+EPA Purity

Vegan Algae-Derived Omega-3

100% vegan · Free from ocean contaminants · Third-party tested for heavy metals · Dark glass, warehouse-refrigerated for freshness · Fresh citrus, 60 servings

Learn More About DHA+EPA Purity →

Whether you choose my formula or another, the principle holds: the omega-3 you take should never introduce the toxins or inflammation you're trying to avoid. Read the source. Ask for the testing. Demand freshness.

"What's left out of a supplement matters just as much as what's put in."

— Joel Fuhrman, MD

To your health,

Joel Fuhrman,MD

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Dr. Fuhrman · 8 Bartles Corner Road, Suite 106, Flemington, NJ 08822

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Mercury, lead, and PCBs — in your omega-3?

A clean omega-3 shouldn't introduce the toxins you're trying to avoid.

Most Fish Oil Has a Problem.Two, Actually.

Recent emails from Dr. Fuhrman

Most Fish Oil Has a Problem.
Two, Actually.