About ALA , DHA And Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 3:08 am

One of the most important health discoveries over the last few decades is that most of us are deficient in what is known as the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. There are a number of these Omega 3 fats, primarily ALA (alpha linolenic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), though there are others.

It is considered generally that DHA, which makes up a large percentage of our brain, is the most important these however EPA, also an Omega 3 fat, is also essential to optimum health.

Unfortunately over the last hundred years our diets have changed and we are now eating less and less of the main source of DHA and EPA, namely seafood and in particular oily fish. For this reason it is now generally considered that most of us are deficient in these 2 important nutrients and that this deficiency can lead to a wide range of risks for poor health, and that increasing our intake of both these essential fats can help guard against various health conditions.

ALA on the other hand is found only in plant-based foods and is not found in seafoods, therefore even eating more seafood does not increase our intake of ALA.

But vegetarians do not take omega 3 supplements contain DHA and EPA as these come from fish, and so in most cases are taking Omega 3 supplements that come from such sources as flax seed oil. Therefore they are getting ALA only. Are they getting sufficient Omega3 fats?

The answer is no because DHA and EPA are much more important to your health than ALA. The benefit of ALA is that the body can convert it into DHA and EPA but it is converted at a very poor rate, and the less healthy amongst us convert it less successfully.

So if it isn’t sufficient to take vegetarian Omega 3 supplements why do people take them? Because as vegetarians they cannot take traditional Omega 3 supplements sourced from seafood. And many people taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements are unaware that they are not providing sufficient levels of the important Omega 3 fats.

The bottom line is that virtually all of us are deficient in the fish-based Omega 3 fats DHA and EPA. These are what are important to our health and taking an ALA Omega 3 supplement such as a flax seed oil supplement does not address this problem. To find out more about the essential fatty acids DHA and EPA and in particular about where to source high quality fish oil supplements containing these fats visit my website.