Who should take cod liver oil?
I recommend cod liver oil as a dietary supplement for most everyone — children aged four and above, to seniors… provided they need the additional support of vitamin D. Cod liver oil contains vitamins D and A which are beneficial for almost everyone from fall through late spring during the cloudy winter season when sun exposure is naturally low. It is also beneficial for anyone else who cannot get regular sun exposure. Think of cod liver oil as “fish-plus” – fish oils plus vitamins D and A.
For years, I have recommended cod liver oil as a dietary supplement to support healthy vitamin D levels. However, based on more recent findings, I am updating my recommendations regarding cod liver oil, as it may not serve you as well as previously believed. My previous recommendation was based on the fact that cod liver oil contains vitamins D and A in addition to healthy omega-3 fats. These vitamins are essential for most everyone who cannot get regular sun exposure year-round. But more recent research has discovered that the ratios of these two vitamins may be of paramount importance in order to extract optimal health benefits, and unfortunately, modern cod liver oil does not supply these vitamins in healthy ratios to each other. Therefore, I no longer recommend taking cod liver oil for vitamin D supplementation. Please read the full details about this Important Cod Liver Oil Update, if you have not already done so. However, both vitamin D and omega-3s are still essential for optima
