Fish Oil and the Legend of the Eskimos

Swedish Professor Tom Saldeen, having published over 400 papers mainly in cardiovascular medicine, decided to build on this groundbreaking research together with a team of scientists led by himself. Upon further investigation, Professor Saldeen concluded what today is largely taken for granted - that omega-3 fatty acids are highly beneficial to health but often lacking in the Western diet. Over 30 years ago two pioneering Danish physicians, Bang & Dyerberg, visited Greenland to live alongside the Eskimos and observe their diet. What they were about to discover would change the world of nutrition forever. Their endeavours would prove without question that remarkably, although the Eskimos consume large amounts of fat, they avoid many of the conditions associated with a high-fat diet, with heart disease virtually unheard of. In fact, the two scientists discovered that the word for ‘heart attack’ actually did not exist in the Eskimos' vocabulary.

This was thought to be because the Eskimos consumed a diet mainly of fish and seafood, rich sources of a special, healthy type of fat – the now celebrated omega-3s.

The Now Legendary Eskimo-3 fish Oil Was Born

Professor Saldeen and his colleagues set about formulating a fish oil that could be used as a daily dietary supplement to incorporate these highly beneficial fatty acids into our diets. After years of painstaking research, they produced an oil so pure and fresh (with a remarkable ability to stay fresh and thus preserve more of its goodness) that it has become renowned worldwide – the now legendary Eskimo-3 fish oil was born.

Unrivalled Freshness and Stability

Professor Saldeen and his team found that the omega-3 fish oils commercially available at that time were of low quality and easily became rancid due to a loss of antioxidants during the purification of the fish oil to remove environment toxins from the oil. Antioxidants are what keeps fish oil fresh.

A Stable (Fresher) Fish Oil Was Now Available

After many more years of research, Professor Saldeen and his collaborator Rolf Wallin, PhD, solved this problem by developing the Pufanox technology, that actually restores all the original antioxidants after purification. This patented process ensures there is no risk of rancidity either while the product is being stored, or inside the body of the consumer. A stable and therefore fresher fish oil was now available.

Unbeatable Purity

All fish oil is naturally susceptible to contamination from heavy metals such as mercury as well as from environmental chemicals. It is essential that these harmful toxins be removed from the oil. The rigorous quality control behind Eskimo-3 oil ensures that it remains one of the purest fish oils on the market today.

The purification process of Eskimo-3 is carried out close to the fishing-grounds, which are located in clean non-polluted waters. Here pressing, centrifugation and molecular distillation all take place in accordance with GMP and pharmaceutical standards. Since the best available, state-of-the-art technology is used for the purification procedure, Eskimo products are ultra-pure containing no residues from the manufacturing process and are hexane free.

Toxins Below Detection Levels

Recent tests have shown that among the fish oil brands scientifically evaluated, Eskimo-3 was found to be the cleanest of all those tested. Harmful dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs, as well as heavy metal contaminants, such as cadmium and mercury, were all below detection levels.
An independent trial conducted in February 2006 showed that out of 16 brands of fish oil tested, one month after opening only two contained peroxide values below the limit set by the European Pharmacopeoia – these two products were Eskimo-3 and Eskimo Kids!

Full Traceability and Sustainability

The manufacturers of Eskimo-3 use only the highest quality fish oil available from fully traceable sources, using specialist fisheries, who fish small fish such as sardines, anchovies and mackerel from local sustainable sources, providing oil of exceptional quality. This oil can actually be tracked back to the individual fishing vessel and even the individual taking care of the fish. This traceability (and accountability) continues right through the production process up to the finished product.

Friends of the Sea Award

The key to sustainability is making sure that we allow our oceans to naturally replenish themselves, and don’t exhaust them before they are able to do so. Extensive tracking and monitoring means that the fish oil used in Eskimo-3 can be traced from the exact fishing vessel all the way to the finished product. Eskimo-3 is proud to have Friend of the Sea (FOS) certification for documented, traceable and sustainable fishing.

Kosher Certification

Eskimo-3 is one of the few fish oils to be able to claim Kosher certification. All production steps from fishing vessel up to the final product must be known and verified in order to achieve full Kosher certification.