What the industry isn't telling you

You know omega-3 is important. You might already be taking fish oil, or eating salmon every week. Good for you. But there are a few things most people don't know — and these make the difference between omega-3 that works, and omega-3 that doesn't.

Farmed fish: the swimming chicken

More than 70% of all salmon consumed globally comes from aquaculture. In Dutch supermarkets, that percentage is even higher — the salmon you buy there is almost certainly farmed salmon. And this farmed salmon no longer eats algae. It is fed with soy, corn, and fishmeal — because that's cheaper. Result: farmed salmon now contains, on average, only half the omega-3 that wild salmon used to contain. (Source: KRO-NCRV research)

Even if you faithfully eat salmon every week, you probably no longer meet the daily recommendation of 250 mg EPA+DHA.

Pollution: what fish pick up along the way

Fish live in an increasingly polluted ocean. They accumulate dioxins, PCBs, and heavy metals in their tissue — substances that can end up in your supplement via fish oil. The more fish that goes into a capsule, the greater that risk. Algae are grown in closed fermentation tanks on land, far from ocean pollution. This risk simply does not exist with algal oil.

Oxidation: the silent problem

Omega-3 oil is vulnerable. As soon as it comes into contact with oxygen, it starts to degrade. Fish oil travels thousands of kilometers — from catch to factory to distribution to your cupboard. By the time you swallow the capsule, the oil may already be oxidized.

Oxidized fish oil smells rancid, causes burping — and is less effective. The quality measure for this is the TOTOX value. Much of the fish oil on the market scores well above what is considered ideal. We are below 5.

Overfishing: the price the ocean pays

Every year, 17 billion kilograms of fish are caught — not for consumption, but to be processed into fish oil and fishmeal. (Source: FAO, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture) How concrete is that? On average, 30 anchovies go into one fish oil capsule. This was shown by research from Keuringsdienst van Waarde. Anyone who takes fish oil daily consumes more than 10,000 small fish per year.

The ocean is our largest ecosystem. The solution is not more fish. The solution is to go back to the source.

The industry profits from volume. Not quality.

Large fish oil brands buy in bulk, mix batches, and optimize for margins. Batch-by-batch quality control? Transparency about TOTOX values? That costs money. We deliberately chose that. They did not.

And if you're thinking: I'll just take the cheap fish oil — then you probably don't want to know exactly where it comes from.

Step 1: out with the fish. Step 2: out with the oxidation.

Back to the source—and better

Our algal oil is cultivated in closed, controlled systems in Europe. No ocean pollution. No long transport routes. No fish accumulating oxidation as an intermediary. The result: a TOTOX value consistently below 5—whereas fish oil on the market often exceeds 20 or 30. Each batch is individually tested and certified.

That was the first step.

But oxidation doesn’t stop at the source.

Even the cleanest omega-3 oil is vulnerable. Fatty acids degrade. In your cupboard. In your body. The conventional solution? Higher dosages. Taking more to achieve the same effect.

We sought a better solution. Five years of research later, we found it—in the exact same place as the omega-3 itself.

Omega+ — the ultimate omega-3 product

Algae don't just produce EPA and DHA. They also produce astaxanthin—the red pigment that protects algae from oxidative damage in the ocean. In laboratory research, astaxanthin demonstrates antioxidant activity up to 600x stronger than vitamin C (in vitro; individual effects may vary).

After years of research, we have combined the best of algae into one product:

plnktn Omega+ = EPA & DHA + Astaxanthin

The omega-3 is protected from within. No oxidation during transport. No oxidation in your body. Everything you want from omega-3, without the compromises you always make with other products.

This is the product we are most proud of. The most complete omega-3 product we know of—and we’ve worked for years to make it so.

→ [Discover Omega+]

Independently substantiated

We didn't just tell our story to ourselves. Watch our mini-documentary—featuring a food scientist from Wageningen University, a participant from Sea Shepherd, and Ian Urbina, the investigative journalist who exposes ocean abuses.

→ [Watch the documentary]