Supplement Detective

By Curtis Alexander, Pharm.D.
America’s Natural Pharmacist

Summary: Antarctic Krill Oil has shown many possible benefits including helping women with painful menstruation and controlling cholesterol levels.  There may be some questions on if the current studies are biased.  If the popularity of Krill Oil takes off it could have a huge impact on not only the Krill but also the predators who feed on Krill.  Pure antarctic Krill Oil is also expensive.

Dear Curtis: I heard about a new supplement called Antarctic Pure Krill Oil that is said to benefit bad periods.  I’m particularly interested in it as I have pretty bad menstrual periods and cramping.  What do you think?

My Answer: Hey, they use Prozac for bad periods, so why not the oil of a shrimp from Antarctica?

Seriously, I have to admit I’ve been keeping a bit of an eye (albeit a skeptical one at this point) on Krill Oil. But before I get into my personal feelings let’s look at the proven benefits of Krill Oil (specifically if it’s worth trying for your periods).

Krill Oil for Premenstrual Symptoms (PMS) and Dysmenorrhea

The most referenced study to date was published in 2003.  The study was set up as a double-blind (that’s good – none of the participants knew what they were taking) comparison between Neptune Krill Oil™ (NKO) and omega-3 fish oil in the treatment of PMS and dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation).

The researchers found that both NKO and omega-3 fish oil showed a statistically significant improvement in both conditions.  They went on to also state that while they were both effective the group of women taking NKO used even fewer analgesics (pain killers) than the omega-3 group did.

Here’s how I would interpret these results.  Yes, NKO will reduce your need for over-the-counter pain medications.  So will omega-3 fish oil.  NKO will likely reduce your need for pain pills even more than fish oil.

The question is how much more and is it worth it?

At the end of the 90 day treatment period NKO users saw a decrease of ibuprofen use of 50% (from1,200mg a day to 600mg a day.  A typical over-the-counter ibuprofen tablet is 200mg).  The omega-3 group saw the same decreases as NKO at 30 days but the 90 day measurements weren’t as promising at a decrease of ibuprofen from 1,200mg a day to 800mg a day.

Users stated similar decreases if they were using Tylenol.  For example, the NKO group saw acetaminophen use decrease from 2,500mg to 1,000mg.  The omega-3 group fell from 2,500mg to 1,480mg of acetaminophen.

So yes, to answer your question Krill Oil will likely help your painful periods and PMS symptoms but it won’t make them all go away.  Neither will fish oil.  Unfortunately, there are so many hormonal things going on when women menstruate that it’s tough to imagine that any one supplement will make it all go away.  The question you should really be asking yourself is, is it worth it to you?

That I can’t answer.  I can tell you that most of the Krill Oil products I see on the market are pretty expensive.  On the other side of the coin I hate to see people taking that much ibuprofen or acetaminophen on a consistent basis.  Ibuprofen is tough on your stomach and acetaminophen will run your liver through the ringer.  In short, I think either of them are worth a try and will do you no harm.

The doses of each supplement used in the study were: 2,000mg a day of either Antarctic Pure Krill Oil NKO or omega-3 with food for the first 30 days.  During the next two months study participants took 2,000mg a day eight days prior to and two days during menstruation.  The other popular brand is Kriaxanthin Antarctic Krill Oil.

I should also note that most people claim to tolerate Krill Oil better as their is no burping or fishy aftertaste like there is with fish oils.  This appears to be from how Krill Oil is absorbed in your body.

SIDENOTE: Are you allergic to shellfish?  If you are avoid Krill Oil.  I won’t go into specifics – unless you like reading about IgE antibodies and tropomyosins – but the risk of an allergic reaction outweighs the reward in my opinion.

Cholesterol Control

In addition to helping with painful menstruation it’s important to note that Krill Oil shows even more promise in cholesterol control.  And not just lowering cholesterol (as is too often our focus) but in also raising your ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol.  In fact, in one study Krill Oil raised HDL 43.5% and lowered bad cholesterol (LDL) by 34%.

Prescription drugs can lower LDL numbers by this much but they do not raise HDL that much at the same time.  The only other supplement I’ve seen that can raise HDL to that extent is niacin.

Downsides of Krill Oil

While both of these studies are promising I’m not ready to jump on the Krill Oil bandwagon just yet.

First of all, both of these studies – from what I could gather – were supported in part or whole by the manufacturer of Neptune Krill Oil™.  This is something a lot of mainstream folks will jump on.  You should also note though that pharmaceutical companies are also known for that practice in addition to many other things to try to influence prescribing habits.

Also, Krill are an integral part of the aquatic environment.  I don’t know how many Krill they have to catch to make a month’s supply of the product but there is some concern right now that if the demand for Krill Oil takes off it may have a detrimental impact on not only the Krill population of those waters – but also their predators who depend on them for survival.