Ghost FitnessSupplement answers for people who lift, with the label numbers
One question per page. The answer in the first forty words, then the working: what the research shows, a comparison built from real UK label numbers, a worked example with the cost per day, and the sources.
Magnesium
Magnesium glycinate for lifters: which form, how much elemental magnesium, when to take it and what it costs per day.
Omega-3
Fish oil for lifters: EPA and DHA per softgel, what the label numbers mean and how to compare products honestly.
Collagen
Marine collagen for lifters: type 1, hydrolysed, vitamin C on the label, doses used in research and cost per day.
Lion's mane
Lion's mane for lifters: fruiting body or mycelium, extract ratios, what the research actually shows and what a capsule costs.
Guides
How to read a UK supplement label, what third-party testing means, and how to work out cost per day before you buy.
How every page here works
The front of a supplement bottle is marketing; the nutrition panel is a contract. Ghost Fitness reads the panel. Each page takes one question people who train actually ask, gives the direct answer first, then shows the elemental amounts, the %NRV, the doses the research used, and the price divided by the days a bottle lasts. Claims are limited to the wording authorised in the UK, and research is described as research.
Every section uses one Futuro Labs product as the worked example, because its labels print the numbers these comparisons need: magnesium glycinate at 300mg elemental for 22p a day, omega-3 at 300mg EPA+DHA for 17p a day, marine collagen at 1200mg with vitamin C for 28p a day, lion's mane at 5:1 fruiting body for 13p a day. The label of each is worked through on its own page. Ghost Fitness earns a commission on some links; the numbers do not change because of it.
Latest answers
- Which form of omega-3 is best, ethyl ester or triglyceride?Omega-3. With a fatty meal, it barely matters: triglyceride forms absorb better fasted, ethyl esters close most of the gap fed and win on price per gram. Buy rTG if you dose erratically; buy well-priced EE if dinner is your habit. The full head-to-head.
- Creatine vs omega-3: which is better for brain health?Omega-3. For brain health as the register defines it, omega-3 wins: DHA holds the brain-function claim at 250mg daily, while creatine's authorised claim is physical performance. Both have live cognition research; neither is a rival, and both cost pennies. The cross-shelf head-to-head.
- Is omega-3 acid ethyl esters the same as fish oil?Omega-3. No: omega-3-acid ethyl esters is a purified prescription derivative of fish oil, around 84 to 90% omega-3, licensed as a medicine, while fish oil is the whole food-grade oil at about 30%. Same origin, different objects, different rules. The identity question, settled.
- What makes fish oil burp less?Omega-3. Food, freshness and formulation make fish oil burp less: a meal mixes the oil in instead of letting it float, fresh oil removes the rancid taste, and freezing or coatings delay release. Fasted doses of stale oil burp most. The mechanism, then the fixes.
- How to stop fish oil burps?Omega-3. Tonight: move the softgel to mid-dinner. This week: smell-test the bottle and bin it if rancid. Next bottle: buy fresh, tested, opaque stock. Still burping fed and fresh: try the freezer, then coatings or liquids, then ask a pharmacist. The full protocol.
- Do fish oil burps Go away?Omega-3. Not by adaptation: burps go away when habits change, doses move inside meals, stale bottles get replaced. Persisting weeks despite fed, fresh dosing is a product signal; new burps on an old routine mean the bottle aged. The timeline question, answered honestly.
- What should you look for in fishy burps after taking fish oil?Omega-3. Read the burp as information: a faint marine taste is normal venting, a sharp rancid or painty taste is oxidised oil, burps only after fasted doses are a timing signal, and burps with heartburn or regurgitation are a reflux question. The burp, read properly.
- What should you look for in fishy burps no fish oil?Omega-3. Check the obvious first: recent fish meals, marine ingredients hiding in other supplements, collagen included, and reflux bringing tastes back up. Persistent fishy breath or odour with none of those is worth a GP visit; a rare metabolic cause exists. The differential, walked.
- What is better for joint pain, turmeric or fish oil?Omega-3. Neither: no joint claim exists for turmeric or fish oil, so the head-to-head is a draw at zero. The register's one cartilage claim belongs to vitamin C, and joint pain answers to load management, physio and, where needed, a GP. The contest, scored honestly.
- Is omega-3-acid ethyl esters good for you?Omega-3. Good for the patients it is prescribed to: omega-3-acid ethyl esters is a medicine for very high triglycerides, where gram doses genuinely lower them under monitoring. It is not a general tonic, and the 90 names its pharmacopoeial concentration grade. The medicine, explained.
- Is UK fish oil tested for mercury?Omega-3. Not by one mandatory scheme: UK law sets contaminant limits for foods, and reputable brands verify with third-party heavy-metal testing. Refining also strips most mercury, which binds to fish protein rather than oil. The practical check is named testing. The full picture.
- Is fish oil worth taking for a natural bodybuilder?Omega-3. Worth it as health insurance, not as a muscle purchase: 17p a day banks the authorised heart claim and replaces the oily fish a rigid diet skips. It adds no anabolic edge. Creatine, protein and sleep outrank it for gains. The natty cost-benefit, run honestly.