Health

Study: Vegans have more DHA and Omega-3 than Fish-Eaters

11/15/10

Get VegSource Alerts

Email This Story to a Friend

So you think you need to eat fish to get lots of longchain Omega-3s?

Not if you're vegan.

Some plant-based eaters think that adding fish oil to your diet will help due to rich Omega-3 fats found in fish. But one by one, the reasons for doing this have crumbled.

And fish is loaded with pollution and toxic chemicals that fish eat, and pass along to the person eating (think pregnant mothers being advised by the government to avoid most fish -- and if the government is making the recommendation over the objections of the powerful seafood lobby, you'd better take note).

According to a study published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vegans -- who eat no fish or fish oil and eschew animal products -- have the same blood levels of Omega-3 as the heavy fish eaters, and HIGHER DHA levels.

From the article:

Despite having significantly lower intakes of EPA and DHA (from fish or fish oil), blood levels of EPA and DHA in vegans and vegetarians were approximately the same as regular fish eaters.

The results indicate that the bodies of vegetarians and other non-fish-eaters can respond to a lack of dietary omega-3 EPA and DHA by increasing their ability to make them from omega-3 ALA.

And as they said, "The implications of this study are that, if conversion of plant-based sources of n-3 PUFAs were ... sufficient to maintain health, it could have significant consequences for public health ..." (Welch AA et al. 2010).

https://www.vitalchoice.com/article/fish-avoiders-have-more-omega-3s-than-expected

Read the whole story here.