My Review: Viva Labs Krill Oil – Good Enough For Joint Pain?

It’s time to review Viva Labs Krill Oil – a supplement that seems to be really popular lately.

The thing is – it’s very similar to fish oil as a composition, but it’s actually made from Krill (a small crustacean).

Now, there’s something I need to mention:

• Fish oil isn’t as powerful as turmeric or glucosamine
• Krill oil is very similar to fish oil, so it’s not too strong either

So is this Krill oil good enough for joint pain? Or is it weaker than classic products? 

I tested out this supplement myself – so I can give you a real opinion about it. 

Note: This review is based on my experience with this supplement – so it’s doesn’t have just general info. I’m not trying to praise/ criticize the product or its company – I am simply telling my opinion about it.

 

So Let’s Get To The Review

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Full Name: Premium Arctic Krill Oil by Viva Naturals

Forms: Only capsules

Best Actual Price: $27.95 per bottle

Where I Bought It From: Ebay, but it’s sold on several websites (including Amazon)

Designed For: It’s not a joint treatment – it rather promotes general health. According to the label, it works for:

• cardiovascular and joint health
• improves memory
• prevents free radicals and oxidative stress

So it can help joint pain – but it’s not designed for that. This is an important detail (but I will tell you more later on). 

My Rating: 7 out of 10 – It’s not a bad product at all.

Worth Buying?: It depends what you need it for. As a general health product – it’s pretty good (though a big expensive).

But as a joint supplement – I wouldn’t really recommend it:

• it works okay – but it’s not among the best
• there are cheaper alternatives that work better

So Krill Oil is a decent product overall – it’s just doesn’t work amazingly for joint pain, as others do. But it’s definitely not a scam or a useless supplement.

 

What I Liked About It

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• Capsules are really easy to swallow
• You only need to take 2 per day
• High dose of Krill Oil inside
• Contains phospholipids – which increase its absorption
• Works better than fish oil supplements

 

What I Didn’t Like About It

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• Very expensive (almost $28 per bottle)
• Some ingredients have very low doses – Omega 3 acids, EPA, DHA
• Doesn’t work as well as turmeric supplements
• It’s not a joint supplement (but rather a general health one)
• Some of the capsules were leaking inside the bottle

 

 

 

Krill Oil – A Quick Overview

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As I said – this Krill Oil is different than most joint supplements.

However, it’s not a fish oil product either. Here’s what makes it different from fish oil – according to the label:

• absorbs better than regular fish oil
• delivers a higher dose of Omega 3 Acids
• contains a higher dose than most fish oil products

Now – I have never been a huge fan of fish oil. 

But Krill oil seems slightly better – at least that was my first impression.

I doubt it’s as good as glucosamine and classic ingredients – but it should be above fish oil.

However, it’s not a cheap supplement at all:

• it costs around $28 per bottle
• that is enough for just one month

So basically – these are the general things you should know about this Krill Oil.

Now let me get into more particulars – based on my experience with it. 

 

 

Let’s Analyze The Ingredients

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The first thing I want you to check out are the ingredients inside Viva Lab’s supplement. 

1. Krill Oil (1250 mg) – it has several benefits, among which:

• decreases chronic inflammation
• can reduce arthritis pain (on the long term)
• fights oxidative stress

There are some other things it can do – but these are the most important ones for the joints. 

Regarding the dose – 1000 mg is the minimum dose per day. So those 1250 mg are more than enough. 

2. Omega-3 Fatty Acids (300 mg) – they are great for inflammation, but this dose seems kind of low:

• fish oil products contain about 1000 mg 

3. EPA (165 mg) and DHA (95 mg) – the same as the Omega 3 Fatty Acids:

• they reduce inflammation and pain
• but these doses are very low

An average dose in fish oil supplement is 650 mg of EPA and 450 mg of DHA. The doses from this product are very low.

4. Phospholipids (500 mg) – this ingredient is meant to increase the absorption of Krill oil. 

5. Astaxanthin (1.6 mg) – it’s a powerful antioxidant, but it’s not very important for joint pain. It’s rather for prevention in this supplement.

 

 

1 Conclusion On The Ingredients

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Let me share with you the conclusion I drew after analyzing Krill Oil’s ingredients:

• they’re not better than fish oil supplements
• in fact, I think they’re under

The thing is – I compared the label of this supplement with the most popular fish oil I products from Amazon. 

So Krill Oil has:

• a lower dose of Omega 3 Fatty Acids (300 mg vs over 1000 mg)
• less EPA (165 mg vs 650 mg)
• less DHA (95 mg vs 450 mg)

Besides, it contains 1250 mg of Krill Oil. Most fish oil supplements contain over 1500 mg of fish oil.

However, Krill Oil seems to absorb better – because of phospholipids. So those 1250 mg are more than enough, in my opinion.

But overall – this Krill Oil seems to be weaker than regular fish oil.

So there’s no way it’s better – as they claim. At least that’s my opinion, based on the comparison I made.

Judging after that –  I doubt Krill Oil is as good as they claim.

 

 

 

My Joint Pain Background

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As I said – I bought this Krill Oil for my joints, that were suffering from arthritis for many years.

• I had both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• RA was affecting mostly my hands an elbows
• OA was affecting both of my knees

Now – RA was making my hands swollen and painful. And not to forget – they were very stiff in the morning. 

On the other hand, OA didn’t cause a big pain in my knees. It was bearable. The problem was that it affected my mobility:

• my knees have lost flexibility
• it was hard to move around a lot
• I was sitting down most of the time

The thing is – I had cartilage damage in my knees. That’s how osteoarthritis came up.

So from what I know – Krill Oil doesn’t help cartilages. All it does it controls inflammation.

Therefore, normally – it should help my RA more than my knees. So here’s how it worked in reality.

 

 

My Experience With Krill Oil

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To be honest – I was pretty satisfied with this supplement. That unlike my expectations. 

In my case, it worked better than other fish oil supplements. Here’s what I mean:

• decreased the swelling from my hands
• my RA pain started to get better

However – there was no improvement in my morning stiffness. It would still last over 45 minutes.

Now, compared to turmeric supplements – this Krill Oil wasn’t very good:

• my pain didn’t decrease as much
• it also worked slower
• I needed about 1-2 weeks to see an improvement

However, compared to fish oil supplements – Krill Oil does work. It reduces joint pain and inflammation – so it’s surely not a fake product. 

• Would I recommend it? For joint pain – probably not.

But that’s just because it’s pretty expensive and there are better products for a lower price. 

In terms of effectiveness, I can’t criticize it – it controls inflammation pretty well. So I was satisfied.

 

 

PRO #1 – Several Benefits

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Now I want to tell you exactly the things I like and I don’t like about this Krill Oil.

To be honest – one of the thing I appreciate about it is that it’s good for so many other things:

• promotes cardiovascular health
• improves memory and brain health
• fights off free radicals
• prevents aging (more or less)

Now – Krill Oil isn’t a joint supplement, but a general health supplement.

So I normally don’t like this kind of products – they claim to work for everything but they actually can’t do anything right. 

However, I’ve seen Krill Oil work for my joint pain. It wasn’t the best thing ever, but it was better than others. 

Now – I can’t tell if it really helps the brain or the heart. But when it comes to joint pain, it wasn’t too bad.

 

 

PRO #2 – Works Better Than Fish Oil

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As I showed you above – Krill Oil seems much weaker than a regular fish oil supplement.

Why? It contains much lower doses of Omega 2, EPA and DHA.

However – after trying it out, it turned out to be much better than fish oil:

• decreased the swelling from my hands
• improved my hand pain

The few supplements with fish oil that I tried couldn’t do so much. That’s why I think Krill Oil is much better.

Now – if I compare it with turmeric or glucosamine supplements, it’s not that good. 

I mean:

• It didn’t reduce my or inflammation pain completely – as turmeric does
• Also, it didn’t help my cartilages – as glucosamine does

So those are my top recommendations, not Krill Oil.

But compared to fish oil – for me it worked much better.

 

 

CON #1 – Low Doses

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That’s probably the most disappointing thing about Viva Labs’ supplement:

• Omega 3 Acids, EPA and DHA have under average doses

…compared to an average fish oil supplement – that contains the same substances.

However, I said above that Viva Lab’s product actually works better. How’s that – if it has lower doses?

Well, it’s probably the Krill Oil that makes the difference:

• it’s stronger than fish oil alone
• the dose is over-average
• it’s absorbed better than regular fish oil

So from all the ingredients inside this supplement, the Krill Oil is the only one with a high dose. The rest are way under the average.

 

 

CON #2 – Expensive

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For a general health supplement, this Krill Oil is pretty pricey.

Also, compared to joint supplements – including turmeric, glucosamine or fish oil products – it’s also expensive:

• $27.95 per bottle
• one bottle is enough for a month

To be honest – I don’t think it’s worth that much. At least for its joint benefits.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s a supplement that works. But for $28, you can buy a much better product. 

So I wouldn’t recommend Krill Oil mostly for this reason:

• it’s too expensive for what it does
• you can get something much better for less money

Now – it’s up to you if you agree with me or not.

 

 

CON #3 – Weaker Than Classic Supplements

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That’s the last thing I wanted to point out.

So compared to fish oil supplements – Krill Oil is much better. At least in terms of effectiveness.

However – if you compare it with a classic supplement, it’s much weaker.

But what do I mean by “classic supplements”? It’s basically those products based on the strongest substances for joint pain:

• turmeric/ curcumin
• glucosamine sulfate
• collagen

Compared to those – this Krill Oil isn’t that good, in terms of how it works:

• doesn’t decrease inflammation as well
• needs a longer time to work
• it didn’t relieve my pain that well (especially compared to turmeric supplements)

And surprisingly, most of these supplements are cheaper than Krill Oil – just like I said above.

So that’s what I would recommend you – if you want a really good remedy for your joint pain.

 

 

 

 

My Verdict – Is Krill Oil Worth Buying?

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Short answer: Yes and No. Now let me explain:

As a general health supplement – I think it’s worth buying:

• it has several benefits
• absorbs better than regular fish oil

However – as a joint supplement, I wouldn’t recommend it too soon:

• it works decently, but it’s not as good as others
• doesn’t have strong ingredients for pain
• it’s very expensive – compared to others

So Viva Labs’ Krill Oil is a good supplement overall. It’s too expensive in my opinion – but it has enough benefits for general health.

But for joint pain, it’s not among my top choice. 

So if you happen to have both joint pain and health problems – it would be a useful product. But for joint pain alone, you can get something better for less money.