Review: Biotest Flameout Fish Oil Supplement

Posted By elissa on Jul 20, 2009 | 3 comments

“So, do you want to end inflammation and give yourself the best health insurance policy available, all while changing your body composition for the better?

There’s no doubt about it, Flameout™ is the most potent anti-inflammatory fatty-acid blend ever produced, and it’s formulated especially for men.”

Biotest Flameout is a pretty simple supplement. It’s a fish oil product that supplies DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)—along with some CLA (conjugated linoleic acid).

Calories 52
Calories from Fat 52
Total Fat 5.6g
Saturated Fat 40mg
Cholesterol 0mg
Total Carbohydrate 0g
Protein 1.2g
Total free-fatty acids 4,625mg
DHA 2,200mg
EPA 880mg
CLA t10,c12 212mg
CLA c9,t11 140mg

Flameout isn’t just any old fish oil supplement, however. Unlike most other commercial offerings, it’s a) highly concentrated; and b) contains considerably more DHA than EPA.

Why does that matter?

There’s an obvious advantage to consuming a fish oil concentrate: you can take less of it. A 5.6g serving of Flameout contains more than 3g of combined DHA + EPA. It would take 10g of a standard, 30% EPA/DHA product to consume the same amount… and even then, the ratio of DHA to EPA would be much lower. If you wanted to duplicate the amount of DHA in 4 caps of Flameout, it would take ~18g–19g of fish oil to do it.

So Flameout is certainly convenient… But are there any benefits to consuming more DHA than EPA? Are there other reasons to prefer Flameout to more conventional fish oil supps?

Well, there just might be…

DHA is an extremely important metabolite: it comprises 40% of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the brain and 60% in the retina.

It also accounts for 50% of the weight of neuronal membranes. This is why it’s critical for proper neurological development in infancy.

And—although it’s often lumped together with EPA in fish oil studies—the two aren’t interchangeable.

For example, DHA is the precursor for neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory docosanoids. DHA supplementation also significantly reduces markers of systemic inflammation. In addition, it may be more effective than EPA for improving insulin sensitivity. In sum, DHA is responsible for many of the cardioprotective effects observed with fish oil administration.

Now, EPA and DHA are interconvertable to some extent: supplementation with DHA also increases blood levels of EPA. It doesn’t work quite so well from the other direction, however—particularly in men.

Incidentally, this is why fish oil is a better source of omega-3 fatty acids than flax oil: studies on supplementation with alpha-linolenic acid (the omega-3 fatty acid in flaxseed), show that both women and men can convert it to EPA, but only women can produce measurable amounts of DHA. This gender-based difficulty in converting EPA to DHA provides some support for Biotest’s contention that EPA-rich fish oil supplements are sub-optimal for men.

Admittedly, “some support” falls short of “proof”: there’s plenty of evidence that regular ol’ fish oil consumption is beneficial for men… a standard fish oil product still provides plenty of DHA, after all.

Nonetheless, there appear to be differences in how humans respond to EPA-rich vs. DHA-rich fish oils. If—as some researchers suggest—DHA and AA (arachidonic acid) alone are the true essential fatty acids, then consuming a DHA-rich product like Flameout might be preferable.

A serving of Flameout also contains 353mg CLA isomers. Although it’s best known as a fat loss supp, CLA is also a COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) inhibitor—at least in mice. Since COX-2 is responsible for the production of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins, CLA could provide additional protection against inflammation…in theory.

Unfortunately, human studies using much larger amounts of CLA have shown either no reduction in markers of inflammation, or—paradoxically—increases. Thus, I doubt this ingredient offers any real benefit… particularly in the (very small) amount provided.

But this is a minor quibble… overall, I like the look of Flameout. It’s an interesting, high quality and competitively-priced alternative to regular fish oil and fish oil concentrates. As I see it, it’s a potentially worthwhile supplement for both men and women looking to optimize their intakes of essential fatty acids.