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 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.

Ultimately virtually all of us have low levels of the essential Omega 3 fats DHA and EPA, and that increasing levels of these 2 essential fatty acids is very important. Taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements does not do this. If you wish to find out more about getting DHA and EPA in your diet visit my Omega 3 website.

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