Are People Who Take Vegetarian Omega 3 Supplements Getting Enough Essential Fatty Acids?

There have been some significant health discoveries over the last few decades, but perhaps the most important is that most of us are deficient in the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. The major omega 3 fatty acids are ALA, DHA and EPA. ALA (alpha linolenic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) are all healthy fats.

DHA is generally considered to be the most important of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. This makes up a large proportion of our brain and is essential to good health. EPA is also very important to good health.

But sadly over the last century there have been significant changes to our diets and we are now eating much less DHA and EPA as these are mainly found in seafood and particularly in oily fish. As we are eating less seafood and therefore taking less omega 3 fats his increases our risk of a wide range of health conditions, and increasing our intake of these essential fatty acids can help protect us against contracting some of these conditions.

But I also mentioned ALA. What is ALA omega 3 fat and where does it come from? Whereas DHA and EPA come from marine sources ALA comes from plant-based sources. It’s not found in fish and therefore eating fish does not increase your intake of ALA.

But many people who are vegetarian are taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements such as flax seed oil supplements. These do contain ALA but do not contain DHA or EPA. Are they getting all the omega 3 fats they need?

Sadly taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements is not sufficient as ALA is not as important to your health as DHA and EPA. ALA can be converted in your body to DHA and EPA however is done so at a very low rate, and also converts more poorly for those of us who are less healthy.

The answer is that vegetarian Omega 3 supplements are taken by people who do not wish to take supplements sourced from seafood, and that many of these people are unaware that they are not getting the right Omega 3 fats.

Unfortunately almost all of us have low levels of DHA and EPA, the 2 most important of the Omega 3 fats, and taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements does not address this. To find out more about improving your levels of DHA and EPA visit my Omega 3 website.

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