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Question

What is the Omega3/DHA Fish Oil dosage for a 12 year old?

  • Asked by MB M from Canada
  • Publication Date 11 August 2010
  • Category
Your documented dosage information for your Omega 3/DHA Fish Oil product states to inquire about what dosage should be used for children. I am asking about a 12 year old male. Thank you

Answer

Hi MB,

Thanks for your question. If this is just for overall general health, at age 12+ they are fine to take the recommended minimum 2 soft gels per day. These can be taken at any time, together or separately.

Comments  (2)

  • louise
    February 13, 2011

    can you tell me please what is the recomended dosage of omega fish oil supplement for a 9 year old,
    is 1000mg of omega fish oil  okay ( valupak omega3 fish oil ..omega3 1000mg EPA 18% DHA12%) and he also takes a multi vitamin tablet which has all the multi vitamins in plus 120mg of omega 3 in there, DHA 100MG, EPA 14MG, 200MG FISH OIL,    ( the omega fish oils i piece and pour the oil onto a teaspoon, and he takes the other tablets as they are chewy )
    is this too much for a 9 year boy ?  he has a very small concentartion time thought this would help?
    thanks

  • Image for Joanna Maggs
    Joanna Maggs - Medical Nutritionist
    February 15, 2011

    Hi Louise,

    The breakdown to look at when comparing fish oil and dosages is the DHA / EPA values in the first instance. 1000Mg is a common amount per soft gel of most fish oils. This doesn't necessarily mean that within that 100mg soft gel is enough purity, or quality DHA, for example, so it is important to look at what is in the fish oil extract itself per product. If you take a look at our Buyer's Guide, available to download on our Omega 3/DHA product page, this will help you with more info on this.

    I can't comment on the quality or potency of the first fish oil you mention as the amounts of EPA and DPA are not clear. However it doesn't seem very potent and is higher in EPA to DHA, which isn't ideal and may indicate a cheaper fish oil source (which may in turn indicate more contamination). So you may need to ask the company for their purity Certificate of Analysis and dosage they suggest per their brand.

    Our Omega 3/DHA contains an onsite Certificate of Analysis to confirm its purity, and concentrate on a higher DHA to EPA ratio. This is important as the DHA is the 'building block' Essential Fatty Acid upon which others rely in order to function properly. This is important to have in higher ratio. If EPA is lacking, DHA can convert to it, but EPA cannot convert to DHA, so you need more pure high quality DHA in your supplement.

    The second fish oil you mention is in higher DHA dosage, but compared to ours for example, this is still very low. If it is combined with a multi, it also won't be an ideal delivery system for either the fish oil or multi, as they need very different formats to provide optimum absorption and assimilation.

    For a 9 year old boy start off with 1 per day for general health. This can be increased safely up to 2 per day if he needs more help of our Omega 3/DHA or Omega 3/DHA Premium versions.
    With regard to your son's multi, you may wish to compare the ingredients list to our Total Balance Children's, which is a very comprehensive and totally complete daily that he can take safely, and is small enough for age 4 years + to swallow.

    We have swallowing tips available if he isn't used to swallowing tablets, or as a last resort he could look at taking our Multi Xtra which can be crushed, at 1 per day. This is much more basic than our Total Balance Children's, which would be optimal for his growth and development, but still better than a basic over-the-counter multi.

    Finally, the Omega 3/DHA would be potentially very helpful for his concentration, yes. But if you find he needs more specific help with this, we also have our Neuro-Natural Memory formula, which he could begin taking at a low 1 per day dose to start, rising to 2 per day at age 10-11 years.

    Joanna

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