Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for human life. They reduce inflammation, benefit the immune system, and benefit brain function.

Important Omega-3 fatty acids include [Sears2019, pp 236-245]:

• Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA) (18 carbons, 3 double bonds)
• Eicosatetraenoic Acid (20 carbons, 4 double bonds)
• Eicosapentenoic Acid (EPA) (20 carbons, 5 double bonds)
• Docosapentenoic Acid (DPA) (22 carbons, 5 double bonds)
• Docosahexenoic Acid (DHA) (22 carbons, 6 double bonds)

Note that the abbreviation "ALA" can mean Alpha-Lipoic Acid or Alpha-Linolenic Acid, which are two very different substances.

Omega-6 fatty acids compete with Omega-3 fatty acids, and generally have opposite effects. For example, Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation, and Omega-6 fatty acids increase inflammation.

For optimum health, the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids should be close to 1:1 to 3:1. Unfortunately, the modern Standard American Diet (SAD) has a ratio of up to 20:1. Diets such as the Zone diet [Sears2019] and the Paleo diet [thepaleodiet] support these ratios.

If the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is too high (more than about 3) then there is concern about increased inflammation in the body (increased aging and pain), and poor brain development and health.

If the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is too low (less than about 1.5) then there is concern about poor blood clotting and increased risk of bleeding.

The ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 in various food sources is more important than the absolute amount of either. The following are relatively good food sources of Omega-3 fatty acids:

• Fish (farmed fish ratio is highly variable, depending on feed)
• Cod Liver Oil (1 tablespoon has about 2.5gram of EPA+DHA) [Sears2019, pg 65]
• Flaxseed oil (about 50% ALA) [Healthline]
• Grass-fed beef [PubMed]
• Algae [todaysdietitian]
• Krill [WebMD]

Flaxseed oil is a good source of ALA, and is vegan. Unfortunately, the human body's conversion of ALA into the essential oils DPA and DHA is inefficient at best, and is inhibited by Omega-6 oils that are found in high amounts in the Standard American Diet (SAD) [Sears2019, pp 236-245]. Vegans should supplement their diet with DPA and DHA derived from algae.

There is legitimate concern about mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead, PCB, dioxin, furan, and other industrial waste product contamination of fish oil. However, this problem can be addressed by more rigorous purification techniques such as molecular distillation, super-critical fluid extraction, and low-temperature thermal fractionation [Sears2019, pg 72]. [omegavia] points out that small fish like "anchovy, hoki, whiting, pollock, menhaden, mackerel and sardine [are lower on the food chain and] ... don t live for very long. So they don t get a chance to soak up toxins." In addition, highly concentrated EPA/DHA products require more purification steps, so the result is cleaner (and you don't need to take as much). Krill and algae are also low on the food chain, and are expected to be relatively clean.

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•       [Sears2019]   Bary Sears. The Resolution Zone. (2019). Amazon
•       [Sears2002]   Bary Sears. The Omega Rx Zone: The Miracle of the New High-Dose Fish Oil. (2002). Amazon
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  [Healthline]
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  [PubMed]
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  [PubMed]
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  [Healthline]
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  [wa.gov]
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  [Harvard]
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  [Harvard]
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  [todaysdietitian]
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  [WebMD]
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  [omegavia]
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  [oceana]
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  [thepaleodiet]