Do We Need Fish Or Fish Oil To Get Enough Omega 3 – Fatty Acids? by Brenda Davis

so one of the big concerns about plant-based diets is where do we get our long-chain omega-3s you know 40 percent of the gray matter of the brain or so maybe even more is DHA
and when we think about DHA and EPA so just stepping back a little bit there are two essential fatty acids linoleic acid which is an omega-6 fatty acid and alpha-linolenic acid which is an omega-3 fatty acid we must have both we can’t manufacture them in our bodies we have to have both and we have to get them from the diet simple as that we get plenty of Omega 6s because Omega 6 is grains the main fats are Omega 6s many of our seeds like poppy seeds and sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are mainly omega sixes and so we get lots of Omega 6s the oils that are used in processed foods are largely omega sixes and and so sunflower oil safflower oil corn oil are all mainly Omega 6s and and so Omega threes can be a little bit more of a problem and Omega threes come from you know or the the alpha linolenic acid or parent Omega 3 the plant Omega 3 comes from flax seeds and chia seeds and hemp seeds and walnuts about half of the fat in green leafy vegetables is omega-3 as well but there’s so little fat in greens you would have to eat you know 20 to 30 cups of them to get enough so so and and so what what happens in in in vegans is you need to take these plant omega-3s and through a series of desaturation and elongation you would convert them into EPA or otherwise known as I cosas pentanoic acid or DHA known which the long version is that docosahexaenoic acid these fats are very biologically active they’re extremely important in the brain the eyes and the cell membranes of the human body and so there we need them now these these fats are highly unstable they’re the most unsaturated fats in the human diet and so they need to be treated with with some care as well but the conversion our ability to convert to you know take the plant form turn it into the biologically active form and to get back to that by those biologically active forms the EPA gets converted into something we call like cosa noids prostaglandins prostacyclin leukotrienes from Bach Saenz these kinds of things and and and the DHA and EPA also can get converted into other compounds like we call them resolve ins and protect ins and these are just hugely important in the human body and protective and so we need these things so so vegans generally have lower levels in their bodies maybe a third to a half at most compared to omnivores vegetarians a little more because they get some DHA from eggs from egg yolks but but generally people eating plant-based make less and have lower levels in their bodies and so there’s a couple of ways they can overcome that one is to make sure you get enough alpha-linolenic acid so you’re eating enough of the flax and Chia and hemp and so on and you’re not eating too much omega-6 because the omega-6s and omega-3s that linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid compete for the conversion enzymes so if you get too much omega-6 the the omega-6 will win out so so we need to make sure we have a reasonable balance if we’re plant-based and then the second thing we can do is to make sure we’re getting the nutrients we need because conversion requires that we be nutritionally replete in a number of nutrients so we you know we just have to be cautious of having a balanced diet and then the other things that that we need to do and you know not smoking not drinking too much all of those things can depress desaturates enzymes as well so and then people that that their heritage is a sort of fish eating populations Island people are Japanese they may not make as many conversion enzymes so their levels may be low as well because they lack conversion enzymes so so for some people they you know would be well advised to consume direct sources of epa and DHA so a lot of people think that means I need to eat fish and actually again it’s sort of another similar story to the essential fatty acids the the these these are I’m sorry essential amino acids implants the essential fatty acids are these but these long-chain fatty acids are actually made by microalgae in the ocean so fish get them at some point along the food chain from microalgae and so what’s happening now is manufacturers are actually culturing the microalgae and extracting the DHA and EPA and so we can purchase it as supplements they’re adding it to some oils and other things as well but we can purchase this stuff without raping the oceans you know there have been estimates that by 2050 we will have fished out all of the fish in the oceans basically the the fish stocks will be either you know what who call endangered or threatened or whatever or extinct completely and so there’s concern about how we’re taking fish stocks and and and so when you think about that it makes such sense you know also when you culture you’re not at risk for any of the persistent organic pollutants that that move up the food chain you’re not at risk for the mercury and the other heavy metals that can contaminate fish and seaweed and so it’s it makes sense to get it that way and and the other thing is when you consume huge amounts of fish oil you’re the these at get are very highly unstable fats you flood your body with what is not physiologically a kind of natural amount to be consuming your body may not be able to deal with it and some of it may get oxidized and so these smaller amounts you get from the micro algae supplements two or three hundred milligrams a day I think your body could deal with quite easily so I think it’s a it’s a so who needs it well I would say the people that aren’t converting well so people with diabetes hypertension may be well advised to take it people that come from fish eating populations may be well advised to take it pregnant and lactating women may want to boost their levels because they’re growing a new baby brain and and so that’s you know those are populations would everybody need it we don’t really know but it might make sense for people to take it even two or three times a week to kind of keep their levels a little bit above what we see in the average vegan population the question is about raw vegan versus a conventional vegan diet and are there advantages potential advantages to raw and I would say there are possibly advantages and it’s sort of both camps but the main advantage is for raw is what when you do a raw food diet you’re eliminating two categories of foods you’re eliminating animal products and processed foods when you do a vegan diet you’re eliminating animal foods you may not necessarily be eliminating processed foods so the the raw diet would be it tends to be a very clean diet often organic and and no processed foods you’re not getting all of the additives and preservatives and artificial sweeteners and the white flour and all of that’s gone and so it’s this is a highly potentially very highly therapeutic diet if it’s designed properly now a whole food plant-based diet where you’re doing some oh the other thing about the raw diet is you’re minimizing your intake of the products of oxidation that occur with cooking and and that’s that’s you know potentially quite a huge benefit because we’re looking at you know polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Avance glycation end-products the acrylamide and other products if you’re especially cooking with oil that you would form the Accra liens and so on aldehydes that form with cooking oils and so definitely some huge advantages in that direction now a conventional vegan diet if it’s a whole food plant-based diet where you’re not using you’re not frying foods you’re not adding sugars you’re not using white flour and the way that you cook foods is is you know you steam your vegetables are you you know you’re doing things very consciously in those ways then that diet would be much more comparable to a raw food diet