Well, I'm up to 6 capsules of fish oil per day, and I don't feel any weird side effects.

As for brands: there is a 3rd party website that is independent (as far as I could find out) and tests a number of brands on quality, purity, etc. Manufacturers voluntarily enter the program.

The website is http://www.ifosprogram.com/consumer-reports.aspx

The higher quality oils do tend to cost more - no surprise there - but I just did not want to take a risk, and went for a "5-star" brand.

I don't know if it's snake oil (well, originally, snake oil was full of omega3 fats, but that's another story ), but I don't think so. The brand I take is from Norway too BTW.

This is an article that explains how fish are processed.

Table 6 goes into the oils in particular...
http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/process...rine/index.htm

This link gives lists to proven safety companies:
http://www.ifosprogram.com/consumer-reports.aspx

We use MegaRed krill oil now in this house.

cool site, thanks! My brand was not on their list and I tried to enter the lot number as they suggested but it didn't work, nothing happened.

It's a wide, wide, world of fish oil out there, lol

So far for "completely natural"

Interesting site though.

Well, it doesn't mean your brand isn't a quality product, only that it was not tested by Ifos. I have seen other reputable brands that some people swear by (like Eskimo) that weren't on there either.

But yeah, it's a big fishy world .

Forgot to say: most important is that you are feeling better. There could be many reasons why this happens, but the most important is that it actually happens.

I haven't heard about fish oils raising glucose levels, and frankly, I don't really see the logic/mechanism behind it. I suppose it's possible in certain cases, but I would love to hear why this would happen.

Typically salmon labeled oils are lower in EPA and DHA per capsule.
You will want to see EPA and DHA listed in milligrams.

So check your label, and also pay attention to serving size.

this study found that Omega-3's lowered impaired glucose intolerance...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20358787

and this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17127043

Just to be clear: lowering IGT - which is a pre-diabetic state - is a good thing, right?

Yes, impaired glucose tolerance is a bad thing. It is sometimes called prediabetes.

In general, the more concentrated the fish oil (higher EPA and DHA ratio) the more processed it is.

Many health websites pick up information from other sites, and pass it along. ONE site that writes a sloppy copy may be repeated ad nauseum on others. This happened with evening primrose oil, which contains GLA. (GLA is also an abbreviation for a totally different substance, a chemical toxic to the brain that causes seizures). Well, somebody did a search and found GLA causes seizures and this was tagged to evening primrose and borage supplements forevermore! It sometimes is best to go to
PubMed directly and do your own search. (that is how I found this confusion with GLA, many years ago). This is one criticism I have with Livestrong site...they paraphrase and use other sites'
comments without being more careful. Sometimes Livestrong is okay and others, not so much.

If anything, I think Omega-3's may LOWER blood glucose, and for those on insulin or oral medications they may need to test more often to see if they are still in normal range when using Omega-3's. I have never seen a paper that they raise blood sugar. Now when people take enormous amounts ---amounts past essential food intake suggestions, THEN being monitored by a doctor is a good idea. I've only met one person taking 13 grams of fish oil for an autoimmune kidney disease who was doing that with his doctor's supervision.