Marketing claims suggest krill oil is dramatically more bioavailable than fish oil, but the actual data reveals a much more modest picture. In a 2015 randomized controlled trial measuring plasma EPA and DHA levels directly, participants receiving 1.3 grams daily of krill oil achieved 118 micrograms per milliliter—compared to 108 for fish oil triglyceride and 91 for fish oil ethyl ester. This represents a 9 percent advantage over the most comparable fish oil formulation, substantially lower than the “8 times more bioavailable” claims consumers encounter in supplement marketing. The research, conducted by Yurko-Mauro and colleagues, examined 66 healthy adults over four weeks using matched doses of omega-3 fatty acids. When researchers controlled for actual EPA and DHA content rather than relying on indirect efficacy measures, krill oil’s purported superiority largely disappeared.
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