Dr. Amy Nett: Yeah, I think it is okay to take cod liver oil in addition to taking a blood thinner. In part because you know I think what you might be thinking of is, I don’t know there’s research out there supporting this, but certainly there is if nothing else, there is a myth that high-dose fish oil should be avoided in the setting of taking blood thinners. Cod liver oil, we primarily use, or at least I’m primarily using that more often for the nutrient value. So I’m using cod liver oil for things like vitamin A, vitamin D, some of the B vitamins in it. But I’m not using as much for the omega-3 fatty acids. If I’m looking for omega-3 fatty acids, I’ll probably go for straight fish oil, maybe something like wild salmon oil.
So there is a little bit of difference there. So just so you know that nuance between cod liver oil and fish oil. And then if your question, though, is can you take omega-3 supplementation while taking a blood thinner, I would say yes you probably can. I’ve seen sort of a lack of actual evidence supporting the idea that high-dose omega-3s are a contraindication when taking blood thinners. So I would say it is okay to take both.