Pharmaceutical Grade?
There is no such thing as ‘Pharmaceutical Grade’ Fish Oil. It is a term dreamt up initially by an aggressive marketer and ‘adopted’ by others.
The US Pharmacopeia does not yet have a monograph to regulate the specifications and purity of fish oil. In the absence of any strict guidelines the US Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has developed a voluntary monograph. The CRN monograph was developed taking into account various European and World Health Organization (WHO) standards. A number of responsible fish oil manufacturers world-wide are now working to this monograph and equal it or exceed it.
Xtend-Life is one of these!
There is also a private commercial organization called International Fish Oil Standards (IFOS) which a number of fish oil marketers use for testing. IFOS will issue ‘star’ ratings for various manufacturers who are prepared to submit their products to them for testing for a fee.
Some manufacturers feel that if they meet the specifications of IFOS that they can call their products ‘pharmaceutical grade’ because the IFOS standards are tougher for some components of the oil. This is true for some parameters but not all. Even though they are tougher in some areas they are still not as tough as Xtend-Life’s specifications.
Nonetheless, any reference to 'pharmaceutical grade' fish oil is purely in the minds of marketers and is totally meaningless.
What about the US FDA? Do they have purity levels?
Not really. Their levels for mercury and oxidation are so lenient they are unimportant within the context of this discussion.
What is the level of purity for Xtend-Life Omega 3 DHA Esters?
Our product surpasses the purity levels of all the published standards. In fact, our purity specifications for Lead, Mercury, Arsenic and Cadmium and PCB’s are twice as tough as either the CRN monograph or the IFOS standards and our PCB specifications are 20% lower than IFOS which is already 50% lower than CRN.
You can compare Xtend-Life’s specifications with others and also an actual Certificate of Analysis by by clicking on the specification link in the left hand menu.
What about the testing of each Batch of Xtend-Life Omega 3 DHA? Is it done, can it be relied on, and who does it?
Yes, every batch of our Omega 3 DHA is tested by independent government certified laboratories. The laboratory used depends on the test being carried out. We use two labs, either Cawthron Laboratories or Agriquality Laboratories. Full documentation is kept on file for each batch.
