Home » Reviews » Fatty Acids » Omega-3-6-9 Review

Omega-3-6-9 Review – 8 Essential Things to Know

By Sasha de Beausset Aparicio, MSc

Reviewed by Rebecca Williams, MD, MA, MB, BChir

Last Updated:

Evidence Based | Facts | Ingredients | Claims | Contraindications | Cost | Dosing | Does it Work

Omega-3-6-9 is a combination of fish oil, borage seed oil, vitamin D, and vitamin E. It’s one of over 250 products sold by Carlson Labs, an Illinois-based company founded in 1965. For over fifty years they’ve been a family-owned quality-focused corporation, currently located in the Arlington Heights suburb of Chicago.

Carlson seems to be a rather transparent company, focusing on quality and delivering results to their customers. They have a lot of information throughout their website, and are more active on social media than many of their competitors. If you have any questions or comments it’s easy enough to get ahold of someone from Carlson.

Facts

1) Omega-3-6-9 Quick Facts

The recommended dose is two capsules per day, with or without food, whichever you prefer. Carlson promises a fresh, potent, and pure product that aims to promote heart, joint, vision, and brain health.

Unlike many fish oil products, there isn’t any more beyond what’s necessary to give you Omega-3s. Traditionally there’s 1000 mg of fish oil per serving, plus whatever extras the manufacturer has ladled in. Omega 3-6-9 is simple and effective, with 400 mg of fish oil and 400 mg of Omega-3s in the form of EPA and DHA.

The remaining fatty acids are derived from borage seed oil. Borage is a plant where every part is pretty useful, as its leaves and flowers are used in many medicines. Oftentimes the leaves and flowers are used to help treat fever, cough and depression. The seeds can be pressed for an oil with many benefits, typically in your lungs and joints.

Ingredients

2) Details on Omega-3-6-9 Ingredients and Uses

Omega-3-6-9 contains the following ingredients: Vitamin D3 (as Cholecalciferol), Vitamin E as Natural d-Alpha Tocopherol, Total Omega-3s from Norwegian Fish Oil (Reported as Triglycerides), EPA Eicosapentaenoic Acid (Reported as Triglycerides), DHA Docosahexaenoic Acid (Reported as Triglycerides), Omega-6 Gamma Linolenic Acid from Borage Seed Oil (Reported as Triglycerides), Omega-9 Oleic Acid from Borage Seed Oil (Reported as Triglycerides), Natural Lemon Flavor, Softgel Shell: Beef Gelatin, Glycerin, Water.

3) Does Omega-3-6-9 Work?

This is one of the few products to advertise not only the popular Omega-3s, but Omega-6s and Omega-9s as well, and in balanced amounts. The Omega-3s come from anchovy and sardine, while the 6s and 9s are from borage seed oil.

The 400 mg of Omega-3s is a little lower than other Carlson products and still a good amount. Borage seed oil is a terrific inclusion and there are no side effects unless you’re also consuming a group of dangerous chemicals called pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs). The oil is good for your joints and lungs, with a lot of potential benefits that are still being studied.

There’s plenty of vitamin D, which is more than most people need but still in safe amounts. Supplements tend to contain 400 IU of D, the minimum level set by the Institute of Medicine, while Omega 369 has 2,000 IU. Vitamin D does have excellent benefits even in high amounts, but realistically the dose doesn’t need to be more than 1,500 IU. And people at risk for kidney stones should not generally take vitamin D supplements. The vitamin E is also high, but with vitamin E there’s a chance of side effects like nausea, fatigue, and headache. Still, Carlson has made sure the amount of E is well under unsafe levels. They seem to have carefully researched this formula.

Claims

4) What Omega-3-6-9 Does?

  • Good amounts of essential fatty acids. This contains Omega-3s, Omega-6s, and Omega-9s, all in balanced amounts (400, 400, 300). EPA levels are higher than DHA levels, which is common except in certain types of fish oil supplements.
  • Natural lemon flavor to eliminate the often fishy taste of fish oil-based supplements.

Contraindications

5) Omega-3-6-9 Warnings and Precautions

  • The vitamin levels are unusually high, and people sometimes don’t need Omega-6s or Omega-9s as much as Omega-3s. It may be a good idea for Carlson Labs to reduce the levels of each ingredient here in varying amounts. People can also take 1 pill a day instead of the recommended 2, and still get benefits.

Cost

6) How Much Does Omega-3-6-9 Cost?

Each bottle lasts for 45 days, keeping Omega 369 on the inexpensive side. If it lasted for fewer than 30 days, it would be closer to the medium price range. As with other Carlson products, you can find this in local stores as well as online retailers like Amazon.

Dosing

7) Omega-3-6-9 Serving Size

This is a balanced formula, although the amounts of the vitamins D and E are much too high. They aren’t in unsafe amounts, as Carlson labs knows better than to do that, but it’s still a lot more than most people will need in their daily diet.

Does it Work

8) Bottom Line – Does It Really Work?

Like many of Carlson Laboratories’ products, this is a high quality supplement at a reasonable price. It has been independently tested at an FDA-registered laboratory to ensure Omega 3-6-9 does precisely what it means to, and contains the advertised amounts of ingredients, keeping Carlson’s tradition of quality in full force. The formula here is slightly more potent than necessary, but you can take 1 capsule a day to stretch out your supply and still get the great benefits of fish and borage.

3/5 - (1 vote)
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments