One rainy morning in 2015 I logged on to my computer to check my emails to find a barrage of emails from friends, customers and distributors asking if I’d seen the article on the dangers of fermented cod liver oil. Kaayla Daniel, the vice president of the Weston A Price Foundation (WAPF) had released a 111 document flaming the safety and effectiveness of fermented cod liver oil, and the WAPF for endorsing the product. You can access this report
here (note that you need to subscribe to her website to receive this).
We still get emails asking us “is fermented cod liver oil safe?” Some rumours don’t die easily. The information below answers many of the allegations.
In brief the report states that fermented cod liver oil :
- Is rancid/putrid
- Contains trans-fats
- Has little/no vitamin D
- Isn’t even made from cod
Some of you may know that I have had many personal dealings with Sally Fallon (the president of WAPF) and Dave Wetzel (the manufacturer). I have never met two people more passionate about food quality and health. Their characters in my opinion are absolutely rock solid. I do not believe that either would intentionally or otherwise endorse or produce a product that was ineffective or detrimental to your health.
I have personally used fermented cod liver oil for the last 10 years. My healthy girls – now 12 and 15 were raised on cod liver oil. My mother used cod liver oil as part of her programme to successfully overcome osteoporosis and manage her arthritis. I have recommended fermented cod liver oil to all of the people I care about most in this world. Every week we receive personal emails and calls from our customers telling us about their improvements in health after adding fermented cod liver oil to their diet. Is this just a placebo effect? I know it’s not. I have seen many pre- and post- 25 (OH)D tests showing that our products have effectively boosted blood vitamin D levels. The bottom line is that this report just didn’t fit with what we were seeing. Something smelt fishy indeed – and it wasn’t just the cod liver oil.
WAPF and Green Pasture have both released statements that attend to the “issues” that Daniel raises in her report. They can be read
here (WAPF) and also
here (Green Pasture). Daniel’s document was certainly more of an opinion piece than a factual document. Each of the issues that she raised is clearly refuted in the following documents. Our cod liver oil is indeed (not surprisingly) made of cod. It isn’t rancid. It certainly isn’t trans-fat loaded or vitamin D deficient.
I’m unsure what would cause a person in such a privileged position to attack a product and her fellow board members. Looking at the publicity and promotions since Kaayla Daniel’s outbreak I suspect it was just a nasty, low blow of a marketing promotion.
As always we are open to any questions about the safety and effectiveness of our products. Please be assured that I would never recommend any products that I wouldn’t use myself.
Dave Liow
