Regular Fish Oil is Made for Women. Use This Instead

The Omega-3 Fatty Acid for Men

Testosterone lowers DHA levels, so why do most fish oils short-change men on this vital fatty acid? Let’s fix that.


If you take fish oil, there’s a good chance you’re using one better suited for women.

We all know that omega-3 fatty acids, or more specifically, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), play a big part in human health. While each fatty acid has its benefits, they’re rarely taken individually. Instead, we take them together in supplements like fish oil.

There’s a problem, though. Even though fish oil supplements contain both DHA and EPA, all of them contain more EPA than DHA. That’s fine… if you’re a female.

More Testosterone, Less DHA Production

The human body makes a lot of its own omega-3 fatty acids. We derive alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) mostly from plants and our body converts it to DHA and EPA.

However, women have a greater capacity to convert ALA to DHA than men do, and this conversion is largely determined by estrogen, the primary female sex hormone. A strong stimulus of estrogen causes a sharp increase in DHA production. Likewise, a sharp stimulus of testosterone causes a decrease in DHA production.

That means that men have much lower DHA blood and tissue values than women, despite taking in the same amount of ALA. DHA is particularly important because it plays a huge role in reducing blood pressure, increasing HDL (good cholesterol), and keeping the heartbeat in electrical rhythm. Men, of course, have a far greater incidence of heart disease than women (and presumably other inflammatory conditions). One of the reasons for this might well be their difference in blood and tissue DHA levels.

What’s needed is for men to get more DHA in their diet. Men need a fish oil supplement that considers their specific needs. Biotest’s Flameout (on Amazon) was designed with men in mind. It contains five times more DHA than EPA. Here are the amounts per 3-softgel dose:

  • DHA 2000 mg
  • EPA 400 mg

But Can Women Still Use Flameout?

Flameout is still an excellent choice for women, but unlike other omega-3 supplements, it doesn’t leave the needs of men out of the equation.

Flameout Buy-on-Amazon

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Well done. As usual the science is “spot-on” Definitely important to us old dudes. Thank you.

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Interesting. My doctor had me on vascepa for bad lipids, which it appears is 100% EPA. Sounds like Flameout might be more beneficial?

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Flameout has been the staple of staples. Near on impossible to find a DHA driven fish oil…that doesn’t come in clear bottles (sigh) or make the most horrific fish burps (urgh). 8 Flameout a day keeps the doctor away - at least for LDL/HDL purposes.

Also, in the Pharma part of the forum, there was several posts about Fish Oil killing libido; wonder if the EPA driven oil may have some influence?

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Can’t say for sure. Maybe stay of Vascepa and just add 1 Flameout capsule a day?

How concerned should we be about mercury levels in fish oils?

I don’t know about other companies, but Biotest uses molecular distillation. In other words, there’s nothing in a capsule that we don’t want in there.

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Interesting. I’m 51 and have been battling joint issues- tip of both elbows get sore, tendinitis it both Achilles. Maybe I need to take fish oil for inflammation?

It definitely might help. Try curcumin, too. Micellar Curcumin - 95x Greater Absorption Vs. Piperine Formulas – T Nation Biotest

@Texasjmd at about the same age, I developed pain at the tip of both elbows. After seeing an orthopedic specialist, he diagnosed me with bursitis. Maybe some biotest curcumin would help? I started taking flame out and curcumin and my pain is now gone

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Thanks. I tried a bottle (60 days) of the Biotest 95x Curcumin. I really couldn’t tell if it helped with anything. I have a limited amount of money to put towards supplements, so I didn’t get another bottle. The pain comes and goes. I find massaging the triceps and pressing right on the tendon helps a lot (trigger point it’s called I think).