Photo by Nico Venterelli.

Good grief, not another omega 3 article.

I’m in love with omega-3, there I said it, I’m not ashamed. Omega-3 fatty acids have a large number of proven cardiovascular benefits, they can reduce inflammation, help prevent some forms of cancer, help with anxiety and depression, and even make ladies curvier.

Omega-3 articles in the main media outlets, however, do not include information on the dosage used in the studies. Nor do they give amounts that can be found in normal foods. What I have found is that in some cases benefits were seen, and only seen, at levels much higher than what you can get eating the recommended “2 or 3 servings of fish per week”. People in general are not getting enough omega-3 and even the people that think they are probably aren’t either.

In this article, I’ll give a barebones lesson on omega-3, then provide some data on how much there is in typical sources, and how much research shows you need to see benefits.

Quick 0-60 omega-3 background lesson
Clinical research has shown the health benefits of this essential — meaning your body cannot produce it — fatty acid to fall under four main categories:

1. Cardiovascular

Can help keep the heart and blood vessels healthy. And therefore reduces blood pressure, risk of stroke, etc.

2. Inflammation

Can decrease pain and inflammation throughout the body. Shown to reduce things like gum inflammation and arthritis.

3. Cancer

May help prevent breast and colon cancer. Studies are inconclusive, it is very hard for the medical community to make a lofty claim that something helps prevent cancer.

4. Mental health

Can help to reverse and prevent mental/emotional health problems. In several studies it has been shown to help with things like depression, anxiety, ADHD in children, and reducing aggression in prisoners.

Omega-3 comes in three varieties ALA, EPA, and DHA. ALA is found in plant sources whereas EPA/DHA in fish. EPA and DHA seem to be the ones responsible for all health benefits found in research. ALA, however, can be converted in the body to EPA and DHA although at a very low rate (15% and 5% respectively). So if you eat enough ALA you can get the benefits of EPA and DHA; but you’ll have to get a lot of ALA to do that.

Sources of DHA, EPA and ALA
Each omega-3 acid originates from a plant source. They are only found in fish because fish eat algae containing DHA and EPA. This means that farm raised fish do not contain any omega-3, they are fed grain. But it also means that free range chicken eggs can contain omega-3 because most bugs they eat have a diet of plants that contain omega-3.

Big brand canned tuna has nearly no omega-3 contrary to popular belief because of the way it is cooked. The tuna is first cooked whole, then deboned and placed in cans, then cooked again. The first cooking typically drains all the fat out of the fish. Smaller fisheries debone then cook and preserve a lot more of the fat, plus they use a lot less preservatives and fish typically in less pollutant ridden areas but the debate over the healthiness of big brands versus small ones is best left for another article.

How much do you need?
I looked primarily at mental health studies and the typical dosage was 1-3g of fish oil (EPA/DHA) daily. In studies on bipolar disorder benefits were seen at up to 10g/day. The majority of clinical studies use fish oil instead of flax seed for reasons explained earlier. From research guided recommendations I’ve formed these low end ranges, although in several studies researchers used more:

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, and don’t claim to be one, so do not hold me responsible for the validity of these numbers.

Supplementation
If you are not getting a large amount of fish, flax, or walnuts in your diet and want to ensure that you get the benefits of omega-3, you will have to use a supplement.

A big problem with the supplement industry is that they are not regulated by the government. They do not have to be honest about dosages in what they sell. This is, of course, disadvantageous from a capitalism standpoint but usually these facts are rarely brought to light (usually it’s only consumer testing labs that does testing like this). Consumerlabs.com has an article with their testing results for good suppliers here. The typical problem with offending brands — which are not listed without a paid membership to site — were that they contained rancid fish and lower doses than advertised. Site after site recommend Carlson Labs as the best brand for fish oils. I had never heard of them but I’m definitely going to buy from them when my current stash runs out.

There are plant based supplements available for EPA and DHA, but they are expensive. It would be cheaper to use flax seed oil, which can be converted to EPA/DHA. Another reason to take flax seed, instead of fish oil, is that fish oil could contain PCBs or mercury although I’ve read that the process of extracting the fish oil gets rid of almost all of these, and Consumer Labs’ results seem to confirm this.

Other than capsules, a lot of people combine flax seed oil with shakes, oatmeal, or something thick. The taste is horrid although probably not as bad as drinking cod liver oil.

My experiences
I am a real pessimist when it comes to supplements and “feelings”. I’ve been taking fish oil and flax seed — to get the ALA/EPA/DHA amounts mentioned earlier — for 2 weeks and I have been feeling, in general, in a better mood but think that it’s impossible for me to really measure. I do know that I get even less hungry in the morning when I take omega-3s. This make sense as fats are digested slower than the normal American breakfast of cereal or toast. For the vegetarian I would recommend trying to take ~10g of omega-3 via flax seed oil. Capsules are big and typically 1g each, so this can be a lot of pill popping but can become habit. You can also buy several foods fortified with omega-3 (pasta, butter, bread, etc) but to get the 1g of EPA/DHA a day that researchers have shown is needed for all benefits, you’ll definitely need to supplement your diet.

Do I think people should take omega-3 supplements or go out of their way to get more? Yes! Research has shown it could help you live longer and happier. I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t think the hassle is worth it. It takes 30 seconds to pop a couple flax seed capsules two or three times a day and could save you from a heart attack some day.

Further reading
Wikipedia.org entry
Understanding omega-3
Omega-3 for Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Is canned tuna a good source of omega-3?

Update:
I received a couple emails on which brand I recommend as far as quality/price goes. I think Carlson Labs is the best. I base this only on the fact that Consumer Labs tested and ranked them as the top brand for basically selling what the advertise. Several brands typically have far less than what it says on the labeled — it isn’t regulated by FDA — and some even contained rancid fish!