Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Any target for EPA to DHA ratio?

flag	asked Aug 13 2011 at 16:19 Eric 22.5k●1●18●69

Jon · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-15 01:40:27Z UTC

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DHA is definitely the "good stuff" in this case and let me explain why. In biochemistry, sometimes it's much easier to get from point A to point B but it can be hard to get from point B to point A. This is the case with converting DHA to EPA and vice versa. It's much easier to convert DHA to EPA than it is to convert EPA to DHA. Comparably, the conversion from EPA to DHA is poor. So I would try to maximize DHA intake and your EPA needs will be taken care of.

This is also why ALA is a poor source of n-3 because the conversion to DHA is worse than 1%.

DHA is the stuff that has been shown to feed into anti-inflammatory cytokine pathways.

edited Aug 15 2011 at 1:40

answered Aug 13 2011 at 16:46

Jon
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Thank You Jon!!! – Eric Aug 13 2011 at 16:57

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Glad to help! What's interesting is you can get pure DHA from algae, since this is the origin of this stuff in the ocean's ecosystem. And it's 100% sustainable. I really question the sustainability of fish oil and especially krill oil. I guess this is another argument for reducing total PUFA, especially linoleic acid, and keeping your n-3:n-6 in check through diet and not supplementation. – Jon Aug 13 2011 at 20:01

Is that through the DHA algae suplement? – Eric Aug 13 2011 at 20:28

Can you elaborate? I'm not completely clear on what you're asking. By reducing your consumption of vegetable seed oils, and other n-6 (esp. linoleic acid) sources, you can get closer to a desirable ratio of n-3:n-6 by eating grass-fed ruminants and wild caught animals (which are good sources of DHA and balanced PUFA). Unfortunately, nuts contain n-6, as do avocados, etc, so that's where adding in some algal DHA might be helpful. Overall, I think reducing n-6 in the diet and eating wild-caught and/or grass-fed is the way to go for a balanced n-3:n-6 FA profile. – Jon Aug 13 2011 at 21:04

Here's a good blog post by Kurt Harris on this topic and he elaborates more on the cattle meat, etc: archevore.com/panu-weblog/2009/5/18/… – Jon Aug 13 2011 at 21:07

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Krikey · Answer 2 · 2011-08-13 19:42:35Z UTC

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1.7642 to 1 of DHA to EPA.

Actually, DHA is the one to more heavily balance if you have the ability to prefer one over the other. As Jon has stated already, both are far preferable to ALA, though you can google ALA conversions on Google Scholar and get differing rates.

answered Aug 13 2011 at 19:42

Krikey
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Thanks for the info! – Eric Aug 13 2011 at 20:25

Any target for EPA to DHA ratio?

2 Answers