Most heart supplements in India are sold to people who are worried, and worry is a bad time to read a label. So here is the label, read slowly, with the kitchen and the evening walk included.
Omega-3: the number is EPA plus DHA
A bottle that says 1000 mg fish oil is telling you the weight of oil. The parts that matter are two fatty acids, EPA and DHA. The common Indian bottle says 1000 mg on the front and, in smaller print, 180 mg EPA and 120 mg DHA: 300 mg of the part that counts. If the label does not print both in milligrams, each on its own line, you are buying oil by weight.
How much? ICMR-NIN sets no RDA for EPA or DHA. It asks for roughly 2.2 grams of omega-3 a day from food, flax, walnuts, greens, and names long-chain omega-3 and B12 as the two nutrients vegetarians struggle to get, because only a little of the plant form converts. International guidance lands roughly at 250 to 500 mg of EPA plus DHA a day for a healthy adult; more is a doctor's conversation.
Fish oil is a hard no in a lot of Indian homes. Algal oil is the answer: the same DHA and EPA, grown in algae. Many algal oils are heavy on DHA and light on EPA. Buyers on Indian fitness forums have noticed that EPA is missing from most vegan omega-3 products. Read both lines. Then check the capsule: algal oil in a gelatin softgel is not vegetarian. A vegetarian omega-3 needs a plant capsule and the green dot beside the name; fish oil carries the brown triangle.
On Indian sites a 60-count fish oil runs roughly ₹350 to ₹900, an algal one roughly ₹600 to ₹1,400. Price it per 100 mg of EPA plus DHA; the 300 mg bottle is rarely the cheap one. And the fish burps buyers complain about come from old oil, so check the best-by date.
CoQ10 and the with-food line
Coenzyme Q10 is a compound every cell makes to produce energy, and the heart uses a lot of it. It comes as ubiquinone or ubiquinol; the label should say which, and how many milligrams, commonly 100 mg. It dissolves in fat, so take it with a meal that has some ghee or oil in it.
The honest claim is that it supports normal heart function and everyday energy. If you take any daily heart medicine, ask your doctor before adding anything, including this.
Arjuna, the bark
Arjuna, Terminalia arjuna, is a tree bark used for the heart in Ayurveda for centuries. A modern product uses a bark extract and, if the brand is being straight, states the milligrams and an extract ratio or a marker compound. Traditional use is long; the modern evidence is smaller than the reputation. It should be a stated amount and a claim of support, not a result.
Magnesium taurate, K2 as MK-7, and the one-RDA rule
Under FSSAI rules a health supplement in India may not go past one ICMR-NIN RDA for any vitamin or mineral. So a compliant Indian label carries modest amounts by design: magnesium at or under 370 mg, the lower of the two adult RDAs, and in practice under the 350 mg upper limit for supplements, vitamin K at or under 55 mcg, vitamin D at or under 600 IU. A bottle shouting bigger numbers is an import under another rulebook, a pharmacy drug, or a rule being broken.
Many Indian diets run short on magnesium. Magnesium taurate binds the mineral to taurine, an amino acid, and is gentle on the stomach. The label should give the elemental magnesium in milligrams; a label that prints only the compound weight is hiding the real dose. ICMR also gives an upper limit of roughly 350 mg a day from supplements, so a sensible Indian label sits well under that.
Vitamin K2 as MK-7 is the form made by fermentation, the one in natto, dosed in micrograms because a little goes a long way, and preferred because it stays in the body longer than MK-4. On a compliant Indian label it stops at 55 mcg. It supports normal blood clotting and helps the body handle calcium. If you take a blood thinner, ask your doctor first, every time.
The kitchen: ghee, oil and the plate
Ghee is not the villain and it is not a health food. A teaspoon on a roti or in dal is fine for most healthy adults; half a cup in a weekday halwa is a different thing. The bigger problem is usually the refined oil that goes into everything, the reused frying oil at the pakora stall, and bakery goods made with vanaspati. Keep total fat modest and do not reuse oil that has gone dark.
Then the plate: half vegetables, a quarter dal or curd or paneer, a quarter roti or rice. A handful of walnuts or a spoon of ground flaxseed, which is where ICMR would rather you got your omega-3. Less salt.
The walk after dinner
Every grandmother had a version of this: a hundred steps after eating, a slow round of the colony, the terrace when it is too hot for the road. Twenty to thirty minutes most nights does more for a heart than most bottles. Do the walk. Add the capsule if you want to.
What a capsule cannot do
A health supplement can say it supports heart health, helps maintain normal heart function, or contributes to normal energy. It cannot say it lowers, prevents, treats or reverses anything, and it cannot name a condition.
Some things are for a doctor today. New chest pressure or tightness, breathlessness on stairs that was not there last month, pain that spreads to the arm, jaw or back, fainting, a racing or stumbling heartbeat at rest, or ankles that swell by evening. Go now. And get your blood pressure, sugar and lipids checked once a year from your thirties; a full set at an Indian lab costs roughly one supplement box and tells you more.
What to check on your label
- EPA and DHA in milligrams on their own lines, not only the total oil
- The source, fish or algal, with the brown triangle or the green dot beside the name, and a plant capsule if it says vegetarian
- CoQ10 as ubiquinone or ubiquinol, in milligrams, to be taken with food
- Arjuna with the plant part, the amount, and an extract ratio or marker
- Magnesium as taurate with the elemental milligrams stated, under one ICMR RDA
- K2 as MK-7 in micrograms, at or under 55 mcg, with a blood-thinner warning
- No proprietary blend, the category word in capitals next to the name (HEALTH SUPPLEMENT, NUTRACEUTICAL or PROBIOTIC FOOD) and NOT FOR MEDICINAL USE, a 14-digit FSSAI licence, a lot, an expiry
- Price per day: MRP, taxes included, divided by the days in the box, then per 100 mg of EPA plus DHA
Not for medicinal use. Walk first. To compare, see the label.
