Cod liver oil 294mg capsules
Cod liver oil is extracted from the liver of cod fish and mainly consists of omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
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2 branded products available
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
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NICE clinical guidance(1)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 5 · Randomised trials: 4 · 1946–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Ribeiro-Silva B, Turri JAO, Simões RDS, et al.
2026
Breast cancer remains the most prevalent malignancy among women worldwide, and experimental tumor models are essential for evaluating new therapeutic approaches before clinical application. The Walker-256 carcinoma model exhibits biological behavior comparable to human carcinoma and allows short-term assessment of tumor progression. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of dietary supplementation on Walker-256 tumor growth. We followed the PRISMA guidelines and searched the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases without time restrictions. The meta-analysis included clustering based on the type of supplementation received, comparing treatment groups with control groups. Twenty-one studies were included, analyzing 18 different supplements, and 12 studies were considered for quantitative synthesis. The overall effect indicated a significant reduction in tumor growth with supplementation (SMD = 2.83, 95% CI = 1.99-3.66, p 2 = 93.3%). Oils had the greatest impact, particularly fish oil (SMD = 6.99, 95% CI = 3.15-10.83, p p < 0.01).
Abstract licence: CC BY
Sasie SD, Abayneh A, Wodajo B, et al.
2022
Abstract Background Cod liver oil (CLO) is a nutritional supplement derived from liver of cod fish. It has high level of the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid, and very high levels of vitamins A, D, and E. Supplementing cod liver oil for infant and children is associated with many health benefits such as decreased risk of upper respiratory tract infection, better visual development, and decreases chance of developing Type 1 diabetes. The main aim of this review is to assess the impact of codliver oil consumption in children’s and infants. Methods We used databases PubMed/MEDLINE, CINHAL and Cochrane library and other sources like Goggle and Goggle scholar. All searches were limited to English language without restriction for publication year. All studies identified through different databases combined, exported and managed using Endnote X9.1 software. Information’s such as Authors, study location, publication year, study design, sample size, comparison group and reported outcomes was extracted. Result From the results of this review, we can conclude that Cod liver oil is very important for children in many aspects. It reduces the risk of type 1 diabetes, through the anti-inflammatory effects of long-chain omega 3 fatty acids. It also decreases in upper respiratory tract pediatric visits during the winter and early spring. It also supports normal brain development and functioning and vision during the prenatal period and throughout infancy and childhood. Consumption of codliver oil is also useful in reducing the symptoms of ADHD in children. Conclusion As a conclusion, Cod liver oil is very important to health of children since it contains omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A, D, and E. Cod liver oil is important in reducing risk of type 1 diabetes, upper respiratory tract pediatric visit and ADHD. Cod liver oil is crucial for fetal brain development and enhancement of IQ score, and fetal visual development. More attention to this important nutrient by the concerned body may lead to improved dietary supplements and prevention of many diseases in children.
Abstract licence: CC BY
S. H. Brunvoll, A. B. Nygaard, M. Ellingjord-Dale, et al.
The BMJ, 2022
- Cod Liver Oil
- Vitamin D
- Dietary Supplements
B. Weiner, Ira S. Ockene, P. Levine, et al.
The New England journal of medicine, 1986
Qreinhard Lorenz, U. Spengler, S. Fischer, et al.
Circulation, 1983
T. Sanders, M. Vickers, A. Haines
Clinical science, 1981
Hiroaki Shimokawa, P. M. Vanhoutte
Circulation, 1988
Jochanan E. Naschitz, Gleb Slobodin, Roger J. Lewis, et al.
American Heart Journal, 2000
J. Brox, J. Killie, S. Gunnes, et al.
Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 1981
Shu-Li Yang, Rui-Xin Lin, Lihui Si, et al.
Journal of Diabetes Research, 2019
- Diabetes, Gestational
- Insulin Resistance
- Blood Glucose
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
Not available
Mechanism
As cod liver oil consists of the component compounds of eicosapentaenoic acid (E…
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
None mapped
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
Half-life
Protein binding
Volume of distribution
Metabolism
Elimination
Clearance
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
[A27154][A33159][L2872]
Historically, cod liver oil was often given to children because the vitamin d content in the oil had been shown to prevent or treat vitamin D deficiency and condition of rickets associated with it .
[A33159]
Over time, this common use in children growing up may have conferred upon cod liver oil its identity as a healthy and useful all-purpose dietary supplement.
However, since cod liver oil is a composite of several other nutritional compounds including the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as well as vitamin A and vitamin D [A33159][L2872][L2871], the presence in varying amounts of all of these compounds at once makes it difficult to recommend or use cod liver oil as an appropriate supplement to confer any one particular health effect or for any one particular nutritional deficiency.
Regardless, because it does contain a combination of a number of important and healthy nutritional compounds, cod liver oil has sometimes been recommended in the literature for conferring the health effects of some of these compounds, such as the potential use of cod liver oil supplements in post-heart attack patients for secondary prophylaxis associated with the use of omega-3 fatty acids .
[A33165]
For example, one tablespoon of cod liver oil contains approximately 4,080 ug of retinol (vitamin A) and 34 ug (1,360 IU) of vitamin D [L2871]. Since the general dietary reference intake of vitamin A is only 900 ug per day for adult men, 700 ug per day for women, and 3000 ug per day as the tolerable upper intake level, the regular intake of cod liver oil as a regular supplement can result in harmful levels of vitamin A accumulating in the liver and sufficient to cause hypervitaminosis A [A33163], which is associated with various symptoms such as blurred vision, changes in consciousness, skin and hair changes, liver damage, among many others.
Moreover, while cod liver oil only contains a certain percentage of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA per amount of the oil [L2871], separate fish oils supplement products that exclusively consist of only EPA and DHA are available in a great variety of different percentage content formulations, even including prescription strength formulations should certain patients need such a level of therapy. Furthermore, such exclusive omega-3 fatty acid supplement products do not contain any vitamin A or D either, which allows patients to use the supplements without any concern about affecting their vitamin A or D levels or exposing themselves to the unnecessary excess intake of vitamins.
Subsequently, although cod liver oil contains a combination of healthy dietary supplements like EPA, DHA, vitamin A, and vitamin D, the presence in varying amounts of all of these compounds all at once makes it difficult to effectively titrate for appropriate amounts of intake for all the compounds involved when using cod liver oil as a general supplement, often resulting in either an excess or insufficient amount of one or more the aforementioned compounds.
Nevertheless, because cod liver oil does consist of the component compounds of EPA, DHA, vitamin A, and vitamin D, further information about the pharmacodynamics of these cod liver oil components can be found by searching for fish oil, vitamin A, and vitamin D on DrugBank.
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
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Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Cod liver oil
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite:
- DrugBank 6.02024Recommended citationKnox C., Wilson M., Klinger C.M., et alDrugBank 6.0: the DrugBank Knowledgebase for 2024Nucleic Acids Res. 2024 Jan 552(D1):D1265-D1275
- DrugBank 5.02018Wishart D.S., Feunang Y.D., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Nov 846(D1):D1074-D1082
- DrugBank 4.02014Law V., Knox C., Djoumbou Y., et alDrugBank 4.0: shedding new light on drug metabolismNucleic Acids Res. 2014 Jan 142(1):D1091-7
- DrugBank 3.02011Knox C., Law V., Jewison T., et alDrugBank 3.0: a comprehensive resource for 'omics' research on drugsNucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan39(Database issue):D1035-41
- DrugBank 2.02008Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a knowledgebase for drugs, drug actions and drug targets.Nucleic Acids Research2008 Jan36(Database issue):D901-6
- DrugBank 1.02006Wishart D.S., Knox C., Guo A.C., et alDrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration.Nucleic Acids Research2006 Jan 134(Database issue):D668-72