After an initial review of Kaayla Daniel Ph.D.’s report on Green Pasture Products, I felt it necessary to state my current position as a consumer and as a Board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
I know it is important to many of you that I weigh in on this issue since it is potentially so upsetting to those who have been using Green Pasture Products and giving them to your children as I have for years.
In this report, Dr. Daniel contends that the Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil and butter oil products are rancid and harmful to health. Furthermore, she claims that lab tests show that the fermented cod liver oil isn’t even from cod and is low in the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K2.
These are serious accusations indeed and ones that cause alarm coming from a professional as highly qualified as Dr. Daniel.
To give you some background, my relationship with Dr. Daniel began in 2007 when I met her at the annual Wise Traditions conference. I found her to be intelligent and good-humored … with a blog named The Naughty Nutritionist how could you be too serious, right? Over the years she has been a great supporter of the Weston A. Price Foundation’s work, serving on the Board most recently as its Vice President. She has written many articles for the Weston A. Price website and Wise Traditions Journal. Some of her articles appear here on The Healthy Home Economist website.
So, for Dr. Daniel to deliver a lengthy report that calls into question the integrity of one of the most highly regarded producers of nutrient-dense food supplements is a matter to be taken seriously. And I have. And, I can assure you, so has the Foundation.
First of all, let’s look at what we know by way of general background:
- Cod liver oil and butter oil were both used by Dr. Weston A. Price DDS in his research early in the last century and considered nutrient-dense foods high in the fat-soluble activators.
- Green Pastures has been producing and selling cod liver oil and butter oil since at least since 2003 when I was first introduced to the company. The fermented cod liver oil debuted in 2007, and I immediately switched my family to this product which we have been using ever since with stellar results. I know many of you have experienced the same because you have written to me about it.
- Green Pasture Product’s fermented cod liver oil has been tested by two independent labs – one in the USA and in the UK – and found to be free of rancidity while containing valuable nutrients. These tests served as the basis for the WAPF Board deciding in 2014 that claims of rancidity were unfounded.
- Many leaders in the Real Food community, including Foundation President Sally Fallon Morell, have studied these products in detail and toured the facilities (yes, I’m one of those bloggers Dr. Daniel says were given VIP tours – but what Dr. Daniel fails to mention is that I wasn’t even blogging yet at the time of my tour) and have been convinced of their authenticity and quality – to the point we have been using them ourselves and giving them to our children for nearly 9 years with excellent results – always in the proper dosage and never to excess.
- Two different laboratories have found mostly vitamin D2 in Green Pasture Products cod liver oil, and Dave was honest enough to share this surprising information with the public. Also, the extra virgin cod liver oil (Rosita) was found to contain mostly D2 by one of these labs as well. This is something that intrigues the Weston A. Price Foundation Board very much and there are plans in motion already to look into this further.
Secondly, let’s look at what Dr. Daniel claims in her report:
- The report makes damaging claims that the Green Pasture Products are rancid and therefore harmful and these tests were conducted by several unnamed labs using a supposedly superior testing methodology and equipment.
- The fermented cod liver oil contains average to low amounts of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K2.
- DNA testing shows that the fermented cod liver oil doesn’t come from cod but from the Alaskan Pollock (considered a member of the cod family).
- The fermented cod liver oil tests for transfats and the most likely way this could happen is via dilution with rancid vegetable oil of some kind.
- The High Vitamin Butter oil may come from Argentina and also tests rancid.
- Vitamin K2 is not what Dr. Price referred to as “Activator X”.
Lastly, here are the initial concerns I have about this report:
- The labs used to run these tests are unnamed with the letterhead blacked out on the actual lab reports. This is highly unorthodox and is a major red flag. There should be complete transparency here. If the lab work is credible and authentic, the lab should be more than willing to put its name behind the data like is done for other scientific research. Dr. Daniel questioned the reputation and methods of the labs that were fully transparent and reported the fermented cod liver oil to be free of rancidity and high in the fat-soluble vitamins, so shouldn’t the labs which claimed they were rancid be closely examined as well? How do we know the tests weren’t run by a rival manufacturer actively seeking to do damage to Mr. Wetzel?
- Dr. Daniel cites Dr. Ron Schmid ND as one of the funding sources for the report who claims fermented cod liver oil caused him to contract heart disease (which in itself is a questionable claim since he is a sample size of one which is meaningless in scientific terms). In addition, by his own omission, he took excessive amounts of regular cod liver oil for many years (from 1979-2006) and then switched to fermented cod liver oil for another six years, again taking it in megadoses (1-3 Tablespoons per day … up to 9X the recommended daily dosage). This dosage equates to up to 20 teaspoons of salt or 75 glasses of water per day. Such extreme behavior that few, if any medical doctors would recommend, is not the fault of a product, but rather the fault and poor judgment of the individual taking it. It also indicates a potential lack of objectivity in the report that is concerning.
- The remainder of the report’s funding is not fully disclosed which raises another serious red flag. Were these other funding sources third parties who stand to financially gain from damaging results?
- According to a very reliable source, Dr. Daniel notified Dave Wetzel of her concerns regarding the fermented cod liver oil being rancid a year ago, and he responded with an invitation to fly her out to his facility immediately at his expense and spend as much time as she’d like to thoroughly investigate his methods. He took her concerns very seriously and had a number of tests done right away that he forwarded to her. Why Dr. Daniel didn’t respond to his efforts to address her concerns remains unanswered.
Being the professional I know her to be, Dr. Daniel would certainly understand my concerns and would welcome healthy, rigorous scrutiny of the lab work and methods used for testing. I look forward to more clarification on these issues in the coming weeks and months as well as as a point by point rebuttal by Mr. Wetzel. There are always two sides to every story.
In the meantime, given the excellent results I have observed in my own family consuming fermented cod liver oil and high vitamin butter oil for the past 9 years, I see no concrete reason to make any changes until the claims in this report have been thoroughly substantiated with complete and utter transparency. I do very much agree with Dr. Daniel that more study is warranted.
The jury is still out on this and I, for one, am not going to knee jerk and abruptly change what has been working extremely well for my family for many years along with many other families I know.
I hope this summary of my thoughts helps in some way as you decide what is best for your own family.
UPDATES
The Weston A. Price Foundation has now published a lengthy response to Dr. Daniel’s report. Click here to review it.
Also, Dr. Chris Masterjohn has published an excellent rebuttal to Dr. Daniel’s report. Click here to review it. I, for one, have now decided to stick with the fermented cod liver oil as I have for the past 9 years based on this thorough analysis!
Trans fats in FCLO? Not so fast! Here are the latest test results.
More Information
Doctor’s Orders: Why Your Family Needs Fermented Cod Liver Oil
Fermented Cod Liver Oil: Myths and Truths of an Ancient Superfood
What did Dr Daniel think was the real activator x?
Thanks
Hello Sarah,
Looking for your personal recommendation for myself (female, 48) and my two sons (ages 9 & 5). My sons were taking FCLO from Green Pastures since they were babies. However, it’s been a few years since we’ve taken it and am ready to bring it back to our diets. Are you ordering the Dropi Pure Icelandic extra-virgin cod liver oil from Radiant Life, or FCLO from Green Pastures. I was prepared to order from Green Pastures until I started reading and came across a post that lead me to wonder if you were still recommending Green Pastures.
Sincerely,
Alicia
Sarah, you have at least one article here on your website, in which you state that you have no problem with Green Pastures FCLO, and that you and your family continue to trust it and take it. You openly denounce Kaayla Daniels findings. Yet, it seems you have changed your cod live oil with the simple explanation that you want it sourced from the Atlantic rather than the Pacific. You state you are taking a product that is NOT fermented. Can you please be forthcoming with the details? It seems that you no longer trust the Green Pastures product, despite you still accessible article endorsing it.
Hi Lana, this blog is over 10 years old and there are now over 2000 articles on this site … there are definitely some articles that were written prior to Fukushima when my family took the Green Pastures product.
I have always told people that if they wish to see what my family is currently taking to check out my Resources page. This has had Dropi on it for many years now. By the way, it’s not that I don’t “trust” Green Pasture Products, just that I feel more comfortable with a product sourced from the Atlantic. If people choose to take Green Pastures, I am fully in support of that decision as well. Hope that helps!
Hi Sarah, From your 2018 article, it seems that you are taking FCLO, if not what brand do you recommend and what about the butter oil?
We do not take FCLO in our home anymore as it is sourced from the Pacific. I take Dropi from Radiant Life which is sourced from the Atlantic . We also use a Jarrow K2 supplement instead of butter oil, which is much higher in Vitamin K2). More on that here: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/resources/#6
and here: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/which-vitamin-k2-supplement-is-best-mk-4-or-mk-7/
Didn’t anyone wonder how this oil was fermented? Only carbs/sugar can be fermented. Was there culture or carbs added? IF not, rottening and ranciding progress will start. The “fermented” fish in scandinavia, that ‘dr’ natasha writes about for example is known as more or less rotten by us who lives here and knows.
And do not compare safe countries that stop manufacturers with bad products (the Norway thing), with this countries that does not have as great laws for safety.
How do you think, letting your kids be Guinea pigs. Flues and colds often comes in cycles of some years. No need to think “must be due to gaps/fclo/new car/what ever”.
From your shopping list under supplements it seems like you are no longer taking GP FCLO and I may have missed your explanation somewhere but I was wondering why the change? Thank you!
I no longer take FCLO because it is sourced from the Pacific. Our family switched to Dropi over a year ago because it is Atlantic sourced. I also only buy tuna from the Atlantic (as well as any other seafood). I wrote about that in this post. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/tuna-safe-post-fukushima/
WAPF did their own testing in November 2015, and the results are on their website showing that Dr. Daniel’s report was correct. However, they haven’t updated their website information and are still promoting FCLO.
I myself took FCLO but had to stop due to it making me sick. I continued to give it to my children for years. I had one of my children’s Vitamin D levels checked early last year before the report came out, and they were low, even though she’d been taking the product for so long. Once the report come out I stopped giving it to them and I can’t trust the product again. We’ve stopped taking CLO completely.
This recent article details the timeline and has links to all of the reports:
thefamilythathealstogether.com/weston-price-foundation-vindicated-kaayla-daniel-fermented-cod-liver-oil-controversy/
The FCLO may indeed be a great product and I have used it a few times before but I have a few problems with it. (I can’t believe no one has mentioned some these problems before.)
1. One company has the monopoly on this product. I cannot find any other company that sells/makes it. Why is this? This is never a good thing because then the price can be severely inflated. The FCLO is VERY expensive and seems to have a cult following. I have also only seen one other butter oil product. (Ghee is the same but much less expensive, though some will disagree.) I don’t like to be told I can only buy something from one company. That is not okay.
2. Cod fish is on the endangered species list. (Maybe this is why Pollock is used, albeit fraudulently, if that is true.) I always wondered about this. If it’s endangered, where is all this CLO coming from?
3. I bought some butter oil from GP (from another seller) and noticed the date on the butter oil was close to expiring. The company I bought it from said that GP had sent that shipment to them recently. I called GP to ask about their expiry dates and they said they were good for a few years but had to put the expiry date on the product due to restrictions. I told the lady I was speaking to that the company I bought it from said they were sent shipments with these dates close to expiring. She became very upset and demanded to know who the company was. She would not let up and kept badgering me for the info. It was a very unpleasant experience. She kept saying that the company I bought it from did not understand their product, and so on. In the end, I had to hang up on her because she was just so disagreeable and would not listen to reason. She even called me back (using call display), not to argue, but under the assumption I was looking for help (from her phone queue.
Thank you for your insight and perspective! We’ve been using FCLO for the past two years in our family and really liked the effects. I was just about starting my 6 mo daughter on it, when I read about the controversy, so I’m gonna hold off until there are more facts out. I really hope it all turns out to be false accusations. It’s always an interesting “coincidence” when controversial research surfaces at the same time a new, competitive product enters the market.
What are your thoughts on the Rosita CLO?
I don’t take Rosita … Norway pulled it off the market due to contamination with PCBs.
No, that is ratfish oil.
It says at the bottom of the article that “and the authority emphasized that regular fish oils, like cod liver oil, were safe.”
Did you not read the entire article?
Yes, I did. But, if the company is producing one contaminated oil that was pulled from the market for being dangerous, that is a very bad sign for quality control in my opinion. I will pass on that brand!
That you would on the one hand be concerned that people are trying to do damage to Green Pasture products and then on the other hand spread this rumor about Rosita oils without at all seeking to confirm it is kinda suspicious. If you had done any research at all, you would have discovered that the toxin dioxin was found in CRUDE ratfish oil which is what the lab requested. Finished product tests well below EU standards because of filtration.
Um, Norway pulled Rosita off the shelves and not just the crude ratfish oil either .. the actual bottles that were on sale at retail so Norway obviously had reason to believe that even the filtered product was contaminated too. If you have an issue with the story, take it up with the Norwegian health authorities.
My family and I started consuming GP FCLO 4.5 years ago as we started the GAPS diet. We were advised by Dr Natasha to start very slowly to control detoxification. Vitamin A has very strong detoxification properties and this very well can cause rashes and many nasty symptoms. We followed the advice, passed the very long detox stage, healed our guts and minds and have since come off the GAPS diet.
In the 4.5 years we have never had to use antibiotics and very rarely got sick. We had a background of frequent antibiotic use due to recurrent respiratory infections, we were told by our doctor we had to have antibiotics as often as 3-4 times a year.
GP FCLO corrected many hormonal issues we had and made us feel like super humans when colds were around.
When I read Dr Daniel’s report I stopped having GP FCLO. My daughter got the flu from peers at school. I got the flu as well but after the shock I had from reading the report I could not dare to have GP FCLO. The flu has progressed very badly and it looks like it has developed into a respiratory infection. I have not felt this sick for 4.5years.
Thank you Sarah and Carrie for your posts. I have re-started taking my beloved GP FCLO today. I hope I recover from this one without the use of antibiotics.
I really wish Dr Daniel and all who are seeking to have a gain on the Rosita’s product at the expense of others get the punishment they deserve.
My apologies Dave Wetzel for doubting your product after all the benefits we got from it.