Krill oil: health benefits, supplements and research

Krill oil has several health benefits. Ingesting EPA and DHA in phospholipids instead of triglycerides allows the body to absorb them more efficiently and easily. So supplementing your diet with krill oil results in the more efficient uptake of DHA and EPA.

Krill oil also reduces the risk of heart attacks: it keeps cholesterol at healthy levels, reduces bad cholesterol, and has anti-inflammatory properties that are very beneficial for your cardiovascular system.

Another benefit of krill oil is that it is extremely rich in antioxidants - chemicals that mop up free radicals. (Free radicals damage DNA and other biological molecules in cells. They cause ageing, cancer and other problems.) Specifically, the EPA part of the phospholipids in krill oil has an antioxidant known as astaxanthin attached to it. All in all, the antioxidant properties of krill oil are over 40 times as powerful as those of fish oil. Astaxanthin protects your skin against the harmful effects of UV rays, among other things.

A number of research studies have shown krill oil to have even greater beneficial effects than fish oil on depression and other mood and personality disorders. In some cases, in experiments comparing fish oil and krill oil, only krill oil had beneficial effects on brain function and depression. Scientists* think this might be due to one or both of the following factors:

(1) krill oil contains a greater proportion of EPA than fish oil, and EPA seems to be the crucial omega-3 fatty acid in brain health - more so than DHA;

(2) as mentioned above, in krill oil, DHA and EPA occur in phospholipids, not triglycerides, and this makes it much easier for the body to incorporate them into cell membranes.

Other studies have shown krill oil to have benefits on adult ADHD, pre-menstrual tension (PMS) and dysmenorrhea.

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* Sampalis F., Bunea R., Pelland MF., Kowalski O., Duguet N., Dupuis S. Evaluation of the effects of Neptune Krill Oil on the management of premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea. Altern. Med. Rev. 2003, 8:171-179.