Flaxseed Oil for Omega 3s
Dr. William Sears, MD explains this topic so well in his book, “The NDD Book: How Nutrition Deficit Disorder Affects your Child’s Learning, Behavior, and Health, and What You Can Do About It — Without Drugs,” that the notes below are verbatim from his book.
Are the omega 3s in flaxseed oil just as good as the omega 3s in seafood?
Flaxseed oil (and flaxseed meal, which is ground flaxseeds) is a very healthy oil. I often “prescribe” a tablespoon of flaxseed oil added to a smoothie for children who actually need more nutrition from undereating. Even though flaxseed oil is labeled as an omega 3,it does not behave as well biochemically in the body as the omega 3s that come from seafood. In fact, none of the omega 3s found in plant sources (e.g., flaxseed oil, nuts and nut oils, and canola oil) are as rich as the omega 3s in seafood. Here’s why.
The omega 3s found in flaxseed oil are called alphalinolenic acid. ALA is a shorter molecule, only eighteen carbons long, than the two omega 3s in seafood, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are twenty and twenty-two carbons long, respectively. When you eat plant sources of omega 3s, the body has to do a series of complex biochemical dances to add two or four carbons onto the “short guys” (the plant oils) to turn them into the longer EPA and DHA, or “tall guys,” which are the omega 3s that the brain and the body actually use. How efficiently the body can do this carbon add-on conversion varies from person to person, especially in children. Studies estimate that only around 3 to 5 percent of the omega-3 oils found in plant oils are converted to the brain-building omega 3 DHA. The DHA and EPA omega 3s found in seafood are called preformed omega 3s, which means that the body doesn’t have to change them to use them.
Buyer beware. Now that omega 3s are so popular, food packages want to advertise them on their labels. Some food makers slip in some of the less expensive omega 3s, like flaxseed oil and canola oil, yet the package will say, “fortified with omega 3s.” Look for a package label that reads “omega 3 DHA” or “omega 3s from marine sources.”
– The NDD Book: How Nutrition Deficit Disorder Affects Your Childs Learning, Behavior, and Health, and What You Can Do About It -- Without Drugs
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