Posted by Larry Hoover on June 29, 2009, at 6:35:39
In reply to Re: Serious Fish oil problems! Please help! » G-man885858, posted by yxibow on June 28, 2009, at 15:57:07
> There are also vegetable Omega sources, such as Perilla Oil (from the Japanese shiso plant), Flax, Borage, and a handful of other things including walnuts.
>
> As a vegetarian, I personally take Perilla as it has a fairly high omega content.
>
> -- JayWell, there are omegas, and then there are omegas.
Borage is primarily considered to be a source of the omega-6 fatty acid gamma-linolenic acid.
Perilla and flax are good sources of the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, with walnuts much lower in concentration. None of these is considered to be an adequate source for the essential fatty acids EPA and DHA, especially the latter one.
I forget if it was the EU health directorate, or the WHO, that issued a concensus statement on the subject, but alpha-linolenic acid, the omega-3 found in many vegetable oils, is not considered to be an adequate precursor for DHA, and only a modest precursor for EPA. They recommend that the two long chain omega-3 fats be included in the diet pre-formed.
For vegetarians, there is only one source of which I am aware, algal oils. These algae are the ultimate source of all marine omega-3 oils, actually. Algal oils are very rich in DHA, but it is believed that we can adequately convert DHA to EPA. If EPA intake is specifically required, then the only source of which I am aware is one of the marine oils.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:903012
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090620/msgs/903742.html