[quelindo]

I started seeing an acupuncturist for infertility treatment. She recommended several supplements, including 8,000 IU of vitamin A from beta carotene and retinol, 400-800 IU of vitamin D3, and 2 grams of Omega-3 oil with DHA.<br><br>
I'd been using Blue Ice cod liver oil and like it, but it doesn't have that much of the DHA. Any recommendations? Can I still take the Blue Ice but supplement with something else? And if so, what?<br><br>
And a bit OT -- my naturopath (different practitioner) also recommended evening primrose oil. How is this different from the oils I mentioned above?

 

[tanyalynn]

I've seen Omega Brite (a fish oil) recommended several places, or there are a couple vegetarian DHA supplements out there (Thorne, I think, and ... I forgot the other). I'd likely go the CLO + fish oil route myself, seems reasonable to me.<br><br>
I don't know much about evening primrose oil, so I can't comment there. But good luck!

 

[Chinese Pistache]

Have you looked at Carlson's clo?

 

[earthmama369]

I recently started on fish oil, too, and the doctor I saw actually recommended that I go with fish oil (cold water fish -- oil derived from salmon, mackerel, etc.) rather than cod. Cod is great for vitamin D, but it isn't as high in omega-3's as something like salmon.<br><br>
I found some softgels by Nordic Naturals that met the recommendations I got -- I take 2/day, and they're lemon-flavored, which I didn't understand because you swallow them whole, but fish oil apparently tends to make people burp. So the lemon flavoring is really helpful, because burping up fish taste . . . ick. I find that taking them with food, especially something like bread, helps soak everything up and prevent the burping.

 

[Panserbjorne]

They actually both have plenty of omega 3's, but what you get depends on the supplement you chose. HVCLO for example won't give you much in terms of omega 3's. You're sacrificing that for the A and D. IF you go Nordic Naturals you are getting virtually no vitamins. Middle of the road would be Carlson's or Garden of Life which will get you both...you'll just need to take the right dosage to meet your needs. Carlson's has the correct ratio of A to D (10:1)<br><br>
You're best bet is to either go Carlson's OR get both Blue Ice and NN and take BI for the A and D and NN for the EFA's.<br><br>
EPO is separate and you can take that as well.<br><br>
FWIW I wouldn't *supplement* with beta carotene. Get that from food. JMO. If you are taking beta carotene it is fragmented (missing all the other carotenoids) and therefore toxic (again, IMO!)

 

[quelindo]

Thanks for the replies. Since I have half a case of the Blue Ice sitting in my basement, I decided to just add some NN to the mix. And I wasn't really planning on adding beta-carotene, but thank you for the input. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">