Per Capsule: What Actually Enters Your Mouth
The only figure the daily maths runs on — with the reading order that makes every conversion automatic.
At a glance
- The unit that matters: EPA+DHA per capsule — what actually enters your mouth
- The benchmark: 250mg of the pair daily = the everyday claim's condition
- The conversions: per-serving ÷ capsule count · per-100g ÷ 10 for a 1000mg capsule
- The worked example: 180 + 120 = 300 at one softgel — headroom, no asterisk
One unit to rule the shelf — why per-capsule wins
Every comparison this cluster runs resolves to a single unit, and this page explains why it must: EPA+DHA per capsule is the only figure that describes what actually enters your mouth — the alternatives each hide something: per-serving figures can sit atop two-or-three-capsule servings, quietly doubling the real cost of any stated payload (the shelf's oldest instrument — the habit's home); per-bottle totals are marketing arithmetic nobody swallows in a sitting; and per-100g panels describe a hundred grams of oil no one will ever scoop, existing mostly to make small numbers look scientific. The benchmark the unit serves: 250mg of the pair daily conditions the everyday heart-maintenance claim (the sentence, the ladder above it) — so the shopping question is always the same: does one capsule state 250mg+ of EPA and DHA combined?
The conversions — turning any layout into the unit
The two translations that decode every label format: per-serving to per-capsule — find the serving size line (often in small print beneath the panel), divide every figure by the capsule count it declares: a '600mg EPA+DHA per serving' label over a two-capsule serving is a 300mg-per-capsule product wearing a doubled headline, and a three-capsule serving makes it 200mg wearing a tripled one (where this trick lives); per-100g to per-capsule — multiply by the capsule's oil weight as a fraction: a 1000mg capsule takes one-tenth of any per-100g figure, a 500mg capsule one-twentieth — the layout most likely to appear when the honest per-capsule number would underwhelm. The reading-order rule that makes both automatic: panel first, serving size second, division third, front-of-pack never (what the two acids each do once counted).
Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil
£14.99 for 90-day supply (90 softgels) · ~17p per day
Pros
- 1000mg fish oil per softgel — 180mg EPA + 120mg DHA stated
- Mini softgel, no fishy taste, lab tested
- 90-day supply at £14.99 (~17p/day), UK made
Cons
- Fish-derived, bovine-gelatin softgel — not vegan or vegetarian (algal DHA is that route)
- Ethyl-ester form — take with a meal; DHA brain/vision register claims need 250mg DHA daily, above the one-a-day serving
Available from: Amazon UK — £14.99
The worked example, and the close
The house rule applied at home as always: Futuro Labs Omega 3's panel in this page's unit — EPA 180mg + DHA 120mg = 300mg of the pair per capsule, serving size one softgel genuinely (division by one — no asterisk), which clears the 250mg everyday condition with 50mg of headroom at ~17p per day across the 90-count bottle (the record, the pence-per-day sum this feeds); and the same read run anywhere else sorts the whole shelf in seconds — concentrates justify their premiums or don't (the percentage behind the milligrams), blends fail by omission, doubled servings surface instantly. Constants: the total-omega line is not the pair (350mg total here includes minor acids; 300mg is the claims number — the gap where marketing lives); gates as ever — pregnancy, nursing or any medication → doctor first per the label (the conversation). EPA and DHA per capsule, closed as the cluster's unit: one number, two conversions, and every bottle on the shelf suddenly speaking the same language.
Frequently asked questions
How much EPA and DHA per capsule do I need?
The everyday benchmark: 250mg of EPA+DHA combined daily holds the heart-maintenance claim — so a capsule stating 250mg+ of the pair meets it at one, which is the whole point of per-capsule arithmetic: Futuro Labs Omega 3 states 300mg (EPA 180 + DHA 120) per single softgel, condition cleared with headroom, no multi-capsule asterisk to divide through.
Why per capsule rather than per serving or per bottle?
Because the other units hide things: per-serving figures can sit atop two-or-three-capsule servings (divide before believing), per-bottle totals are marketing arithmetic nobody swallows at once, and per-100g panels describe oil you'll never scoop. Per capsule is what enters your mouth — the only unit the daily maths runs on.
What if the label only shows per-100g or per-serving figures?
Convert before comparing: per-serving ÷ capsules-per-serving = per capsule; per-100g needs the capsule's oil weight (a 1000mg capsule takes a tenth of the per-100g figure). Any label making you do both conversions to find the pair's sum has chosen its layout for a reason.