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Originally Posted by April RD  Well, I actually prefer flax oil over fish oil because:
1. In Jane's case, flax oil is easier to incorporate into her diet for the benefit of caloric density. She could eat more fish rich on omega 3's, but that's less calorically dense than simply adding flax oil to her foods or making a salad dressing out of it. Plus, flax oil is more palatable than drinking down spoonfulls of fish oil. Ugh! |
Sure, from the energetic density standpoint, I'm in agreement with you. Flax, olive oil, whatever.... just to get the calories in. But I'm more discussing the health front.
EPA and DHA are potent from the health standpoint.
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2. There's controversy as to whether or not ALA is efficiently converted to DHA and EPA in flax oil, so it's definitely not conclusive at this point.
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When is the last time you looked at research on this?
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It is known, however, that flax oil is the richest plant-based form of omega-3's so much so that even if the conversion is less efficient, as little as 1 Tbsp still provides more than the necessary amount required for health benefits. |
Can you support this claim with actual and current data/research?
Based on what I've seen, simply saying "it's less efficient" is an understatement. Especially on the DHA front.
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There are measures one can take to improve the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA, such as decreasing alcohol, saturated fat, and trans fat intake (all of which inhibit conversion).
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From the data I've seen, the small 'bump' in conversion from eating 'healthier' isn't going to make that big of a difference in the context of how shitty the conversion is to EPA and DHA from ALA.
But I'm open to learn more if you have it.
The big review I've seen most recently was the following:
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Plourde M, Cunnane SC. Extremely limited synthesis of long chain polyunsaturates in adults: implications for their dietary essentiality and use as supplements. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2007 Aug;32(4):619-34.
There is considerable interest in the potential impact of several polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in mitigating the significant morbidity and mortality caused by degenerative diseases of the cardiovascular system and brain. Despite this interest, confusion surrounds the extent of conversion in humans of the parent PUFA, linoleic acid or alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), to their respective long-chain PUFA products. As a result, there is uncertainty about the potential benefits of ALA versus eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Some of the confusion arises because although mammals have the necessary enzymes to make the long-chain PUFA from the parent PUFA, in vivo studies in humans show that asymptotically equal to 5% of ALA is converted to EPA and <0.5% of ALA is converted to DHA. Because the capacity of this pathway is very low in healthy, nonvegetarian humans, even large amounts of dietary ALA have a negligible effect on plasma DHA, an effect paralleled in the omega6 PUFA by a negligible effect of dietary linoleic acid on plasma arachidonic acid. Despite this inefficient conversion, there are potential roles in human health for ALA and EPA that could be independent of their metabolism to DHA through the desaturation - chain elongation pathway.
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