Taking Fish Oil? Here’s How to Make It More Effective (and Less Burp-Inducing)

Want to learn why fish oil is a swimming addition to your diet? Watch the video.

Taking a daily fish oil supplement is a lot like ordering a salad topped with raw onion and garlic: you (and anyone within spitting/kissing/talking distance to you) has to live with with smelly consequences of your choices for the rest of the day. If you're physically burping the exhaust of the healthy fat-loaded supplement all day, every day, however, Tracy Lockwood-Beckerman, RD, host of Well+Good's You Versus Food series, has some sage advice for keeping your friends around and making the most of your omega-3s.

"Take the fish oil with a meal that has fats, like nuts, seeds, or avocado—my fave!—to help increase and promote better absorption," the dietitian says in the most recent episode of the show. (Research published in the Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found as much back in 2006.) When you wash the pill down with other things, your body better soaks up the benefits of the omega-3s, as well as DHA and EPA—the combination of fats that makes up the remaining 60 percent of the pill. If the fish-flavored belching persists despite your efforts, Beckerman says to stop fishing for success with your current brand of supplement and try another instead.

Before you get hooked on fish oil supplements, it's important to note that they should be an addition—not a replacement—to all the healthy fats in your life. "It's called a supplement, meant to supplement your diet," says Beckerman. You still gotta eat the sardines, salmon, flax seeds, and chia seeds, too. You'll be doing your health a solid: The purported benefits for your skin, brain health, blood flow, and cardiovascular health are seemingly endless. (But more on that in the actual video!)

Behind on You Versus Food, here’s Beckerman explaining the healthiest pasta options, and the 10 items Beckerman always adds to her cart at Whole Foods. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.