Fish Oil Health Benefits: Dont Take Any Flax Over Omega 3 Oils

Many people have been led to believe, through aggressive marketing, that they will receive the health benefits attributed to omega 3 fatty acids from plant derived oils, like flaxseed, primrose and borage. However, the marketers of omega 3 plant oils conveniently forget to mention that their products do not contain the omega 3 fatty acids, specifically EPA and DHA found in fish, that have been shown to produce all of the incredible results.

Numerous studies have shown that fish oil omega 3s “are more biologically potent than alpha-linolenic acid” or ALA found in flaxseed, primrose and borage oil.⁽¹⁾ In other words, your body uses EPA and DHA from fish oils more efficiently than omega 3 ALA from something like flaxseed. How can this be?

Here’s what the marketing doesn’t tell you about flaxseed oil. True enough, it contains an omega 3 oil. But, flaxseed oil was traditionally known as “linseed” oil. Marketers knew they had to change the name because people wouldn’t eat linseed oil since it has been used for many years in oil paints, varnish, polishes, wood preservers, caulks and much more. Linseed oil and flaxseed oil are the same thing.

Now, from a nutritional point-of-view, we find that the ALA in flaxseed oil is only a precursor to EPA and DHA. This means that if everything is working optimally in the body, the ALA can be converted to EPA and DHA.

But, studies have shown very little ALA conversion actually takes place. Only around .05% of the total ALA consumed from flaxseed will convert into EPA and DHA. That means that 99.95% of the ALA is not converted. And, your body’s need for EPA and DHA, as an essential fatty acid, is so great that you couldn’t consume enough flaxseed oil (ALA) to make up the difference.

For example, here’s a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A group of people were given 15,000 mg of flaxseed oil (ALA) daily. At the end of 12 weeks none of the participants experienced an increase of EPA and DHA within their blood plasma or the red blood cells.⁽²⁾

However, the regular consumption of fish oils, like salmon, produce an immediate increase of blood plasma EPA and DHA with just a small amount – an amount equivalent to eating a 4 ounce piece of salmon.

So, when you swim through the aggressive marketing, why would anyone take flaxseed ALA, a precursor to EPA and DHA, when you can get the real thing from salmon oil? Give your body what it needs and wants. Omega 3 Salmon Oil follows nature’s blueprint, giving you a balanced ratio of EPA and DHA, as found in nature, and which science has shown to support all sorts of health benefits, like normal visual and neuronal development, enhanced vascular health and much more.^(3,4)

1. JACN (Journal of the American College of Nutrition), Vol. 21, No. 6, 495-505 (2002)
2. AJCN (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition), Vol. 77: 226-233 (2003)
3. Clinical Perinatol, Vol. 22:157-175 (1995)
4. AJCN (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition), Vol. 54:438-463 (1991)

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