Are omega 3 supplements actually worth it?

By Tom Francis·Updated 2026-09-03·3 sources·Editorial policy

The case against, first

If you eat oily fish weekly, a supplement adds very little. A 140g portion of mackerel provides roughly 2.5 to 3 grams of combined EPA and DHA. A week of Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil at one softgel a day provides 2.1 grams.

So the fish comfortably exceeds the supplement, costs about the same as three days of capsules, and brings everything else in the food with it. Anyone who genuinely eats mackerel, sardines, salmon or herring once a week does not need this product and this site will say so.

The case for

Almost nobody does. UK advice is at least one portion of oily fish a week and average intake across the population falls well short of it. Among club rugby squads the honest figure is close to none.

That gap is the entire case, and it is a dietary one rather than a performance one, which makes it stronger rather than weaker. Going from zero to 300mg a day of combined EPA and DHA is a real change, and it clears the threshold at which the only authorised claim applies.

What it is definitively not worth it for

Joints, inflammation, soreness, recovery and performance. No authorised claim covers any of those for omega 3 at any dose, and the category is marketed on all five.

A player buying a fish oil for their knees is buying an outcome that has not been assessed. That is the single largest way money gets wasted in this category, and it is worth saying on the page where the question lands rather than burying it.

The cost, in context

Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil is 14.99 pounds for 90 mini softgels at one a day, which is 16.7p a day and about 40 pounds across a 34 week season.

Against club subs, boots, kit and away travel that is the smallest line on a rugby budget. It is also less than a tin of mackerel a week would cost, though the mackerel would do the job better, which is the honest ordering.

The one claim it does buy

EPA and DHA contribute to the normal function of the heart, at a daily intake of 250mg of combined EPA and DHA. Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil provides 180mg EPA and 120mg DHA per mini softgel, which is 300mg combined and clears it at one capsule.

That is a maintenance claim about normal function rather than a claim about improving anything, and it is the whole of what a standard strength fish oil offers. Anyone for whom that is not worth 17p a day is right not to buy it.

How to decide in thirty seconds

• Count how many times you ate oily fish in the last month.
• If the answer is four or more, do not buy a supplement.
• If the answer is zero, which is common, the gap is real.
• Check the product provides 250mg or more of combined EPA and DHA per capsule.
• Divide the pack price by servings rather than capsules.
• Ignore anything on the pack about joints, inflammation or recovery.
• If you avoid fish, look at an algal product instead of this one.

What the honest verdict is worth

Very few supplement pages tell a reader not to buy the product, and that is worth naming as the reason this page reaches the conclusion it does.

A player who eats mackerel on toast once a week has covered this and should keep the money. A player who has not eaten oily fish since a holiday two years ago has a genuine gap that 17p a day closes. Both of those are true and only the second is a sale.

Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil provides 180mg EPA and 120mg DHA in one mini softgel, which clears the 250mg threshold at a single capsule. It is a good product for the second player and unnecessary for the first, and a site that could not say the second half of that sentence would not be worth reading on the first.

Where to go next

• Omega 3 when there is no oily fish in your dietHow the food and supplement routes compare.
• Omega 3 on a club rugby budgetWhy a cheaper tub is usually not cheaper.
• Omega 3 and joints in rugbyThe claim most of this category is sold on, which does not exist.

Questions players ask

Sources

• EFSA register of nutrition and health claims
• National Diet and Nutrition Survey, gov.uk
• Food supplements guidance, gov.uk