Does omega 3 contain iodine

Answer 1

No, omega-3 by itself does not. It is a fatty acid that by itself does not contain iodine.

However; many omega-3 supplements contain iodine.

This is an important distinction; iodine in omega-3 supplements may exist for one of two reasons:

1) If the omega-3 has been harvested from a fish source, there may be trace amounts of iodine in the supplement. Iodine clings to the outer surface of omega-3 oil molecules and removing it would risk damaging the molecular structure (making it harder to absorb in the body) or contaminating it (as it would require chemical bathing to separate the molecules of oil and iodine)

However, not all omega-3 is from fish sources, and non fish sources of omega-3 typically do not have iodine.

2) Iodine, along with any other vitamin or mineral may be added to supplements as it has natural health benefits of its own. This is a manufacturers design choice and should be labeled as such if the iodine was added.

This is in contrast to fish sources which may or may not contain iodine and are not required to label the iodine since it was not actually added, it simply happened to be there during harvesting.