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Omega-3 Fatty Acids Without Fish

Fatty sea fish is still considered the best source of omega-3 fatty acids. One hears and reads again and again that one should eat two portions of fish a week in order to be properly supplied with the important omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil capsules are suggested as an alternative for non-fish eaters. However, it has been known for a long time that fish is not at all necessary to cover the omega-3 fatty acid requirement.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Do You Need Fish to Meet Your Needs?

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential nutrients. They have to be eaten with the diet, so they cannot be produced by the body itself – at least not all of them. Otherwise, a corresponding deficiency favors numerous health problems. B. Cardiovascular problems, nervous disorders, inflammatory reactions, and even autoimmune diseases.

Although there are plant sources for omega-3 fatty acids (linseed, linseed oil, hemp seed, hemp oil, etc.), these only contain short-chain omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid ALA).

Of course, these also have certain health benefits but are not considered to be as valuable as the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which are responsible for a healthy brain, healthy eyes, and a healthy cardiovascular system.

Vegan Diet: A Risk for Omega-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency?

EPA and DHA are found almost exclusively in animal foods, especially in oily sea fish. A vegan diet is therefore repeatedly associated with an increased risk of an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency. While it is known that ALA can be converted to some extent into EPA and DHA in the body, it is often claimed that this conversion rate is very low and therefore cannot provide enough EPA and DHA. However, the scientific evidence on this is very inconsistent.

The conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA can therefore contribute significantly to the supply of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, of course always depending on the amount of ALA consumed and the individual conversion rate.

Vegans and Vegetarians: High conversion rate to long-chain omega-3 fatty acids

In one of the largest cohort studies worldwide (the EPIC study: European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition), it was also shown that the conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA in vegans and vegetarians apparently occurs to a greater extent than in normal eaters and into a greater extent than previously assumed.

While vegans and vegetarians naturally consume less EPA and DHA—because they don’t eat fish—their blood levels of EPA and DHA are similar, according to a 2010 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition of those of regular fish eaters.

So if people don’t eat enough or no EPA and DHA at all, then their body obviously reacts with increased conversion of ALA into the necessary long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

New nutritional recommendations: no more fish needed!
“The importance of this study is far-reaching,” wrote the researchers involved, led by Dr. Ailsa Welch from the University of East Anglia in England.

“If the conversion of plant-based omega-3 fatty acids takes place to a sufficient extent to maintain health, this can have an enormous impact on general dietary recommendations. One would advise less fish consumption, which last but not least also massively contributes Conservation of the world’s wild fish stocks would contribute.”

Study: Vegans have good DHA blood levels

dr In their study, Welch and her team examined the consumption levels of omega-3 fatty acids and compared them with the ALA, EPA, and DHA blood levels of the respective people. The study participants (nearly 5,000 people aged 39-78 from the EPIC-Norfolk study) consisted of four groups:

  • People who regularly eat fish, but also meat
  • People who eat meat but never eat fish
  • People who lived vegetarian, i.e. eat neither meat nor fish, but dairy products and eggs
  • People who lived vegan and therefore do not eat any animal products

As expected, omega-3 intake was found to be 57 to 80 percent lower in people who never eat fish than in fish eaters.

Surprisingly, however, the omega-3 blood levels of the four groups did not differ to the extent that one might have expected:

  • The average EPA level in the fish eaters was around 65 µmol/l.
  • For meat eaters, it was 57.1 µmol/l.
  • For vegetarians at 55.1 µmol/l.
  • For vegans at 50 µmol/l.

In fact, the DHA levels came as a definite surprise, as the vegans had higher plasma DHA levels than any other group:

  • The DHA levels in the fish eaters were 271 µmol/l.
  • In the meat eaters at 241.3 µmol/l.
  • For vegetarians at 223.5 µmol/l.
  • And for vegans at 286.4 µmol/l.

However, this was the result of the women – and in women, the conversion rate of short-chain omega-3 fatty acids (ALA) to EPA and DHA is significantly higher than in men (approx. 2.5 times higher).

Eating fish is vastly overrated

“One explanation for this observation seems to be that there is a significantly higher conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA in non-fish eaters than in fish eaters,”
according to the researchers. The very best conversion rates were therefore those people who did not consume any long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA through food. As a result, the importance of fish consumption for omega-3 supply is apparently overestimated, while the body’s conversion abilities were underestimated.

Omega-3 fatty acids: Fish is not necessary

According to the study described, vegans do not have to worry about an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency if they consume sufficient plant sources for ALA, i.e. short-chain omega-3 fatty acids, which is not a problem with a healthy vegan diet.

However, it is particularly important that omega-3-rich foods and oils are consumed consciously and at the same time significantly fewer omega-6-rich oils (sunflower oil, corn oil, safflower oil, etc.). Because the latter inhibits the conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA.

On the other hand, studies have shown that vegans and vegetarians can have significantly lower levels of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids than normal eaters – namely lower DHA levels. Nevertheless, it is said that a low DHA level in vegan or vegetarian people has no health consequences, but of course, you can still take DHA as a dietary supplement (as a precaution) and doses of 200 mg per day can cause the DHA level to rise sharply can.

DHA and EPA for vegans

If you have any doubts about your own omega-3 fatty acid supply or even have a chronic illness, it is better to take omega-3 fatty acids. Of course, you can also have your omega-3 fatty acid status (omega-3 index) checked by your doctor in advance.

If you do find yourself with low omega-3 levels, then your best bet is to choose an algae oil supplement, which has clear benefits over fish oil supplements and—while being vegan—provides plenty of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Because certain seaweed (they are called Schizochytrium sp.) are the only vegan food that directly contains the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA so the body does not even have to deal with the conversion into DHA and EPA.

Also, fish only contains DHA and EPA because it eats that algae or because it eats other fish that in turn ate the algae.

Since there are many vegan algae preparations on the market that only contain the least relevant doses (approx. 800 mg per daily dose), and some do not have the optimal ratio of 1:2 (EPA: DHA), we recommend the vegan omega at this point -3 preparations from effective nature, e.g. B. the algae oil, which is one of the few preparations that meets the criteria mentioned and at the same time contains no superfluous additives. It contains 700 mg DHA and 350 mg EPA per daily dose (2.5 ml (50 drops)).

If you prefer to take capsules, then the Omega 3 Daily capsules would be a good choice. They provide 576 mg DHA and 288 mg EPA per daily dose (2 capsules).

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Written by Micah Stanley

Hi, I'm Micah. I am a creative Expert Freelance Dietitian Nutritionist with years of experience in counseling, recipe creation, nutrition, and content writing, product development.

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