Speaking Of Vitamins

<p>There have been some significant health discoveries over the last few decades, but perhaps the most important is that most of us are deficient in the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. The major omega 3 fatty acids are ALA, DHA and EPA. ALA (alpha linolenic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) are all healthy fats.

DHA is generally considered to be the most important of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. This makes up a large proportion of our brain and is essential to good health. EPA is also very important to good health.

There has been a significant decline over the last hundred years in our intake of seafood and in particular fish. As these are the most important sources of DHA and EPA our intake of these 2 essential omega 3 fats has declined thereby opening us up to to an increased risk of contracting various health problems.

ALA on the other hand is found only in plant-based foods and is not found in seafoods, therefore even eating more seafood does not increase our intake of ALA.

But many people who are vegetarian are taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements such as flax seed oil supplements. These do contain ALA but do not contain DHA or EPA. Are they getting all the omega 3 fats they need?

Sadly taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements is not sufficient as ALA is not as important to your health as DHA and EPA. ALA can be converted in your body to DHA and EPA however is done so at a very low rate, and also converts more poorly for those of us who are less healthy.

So if it isn’t sufficient to take vegetarian Omega 3 supplements why do people take them? Because as vegetarians they cannot take traditional Omega 3 supplements sourced from seafood. And many people taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements are unaware that they are not providing sufficient levels of the important Omega 3 fats.

Ultimately virtually all of us have low levels of the essential Omega 3 fats DHA and EPA, and that increasing levels of these 2 essential fatty acids is very important. Taking vegetarian Omega 3 supplements does not do this. If you wish to find out more about getting DHA and EPA in your diet visit my Omega 3 website.