Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Are they in a bio-available form? Wouldn't the phenols and phyto-chemicals be detrimental to absorption?

flag	asked Oct 20 2011 at 17:17 Futureboy 6,307●11●44

Anti-nutrients don't really have anything to do with the digestion of the macromolecules. See: vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/… – Olivia Oct 20 2011 at 17:24

Matt · Answer 1 · 2011-10-20 17:43:16Z UTC

The supplement contains DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) produced from algae.

As far as I know the long-chain omega-3 fats in fish oil originate from algae. In the sea Algae are at the bottom of many food chains and the omega-3 fats they produce work their way up to be concentrated in larger carnivores such as fish.

Producing DHA from algae is not complicated however each algal cell only produces a tiny droplet of lipids. You have to grow up a huge amount of algae to get much oil but this is less of a problem now with modern growing systems if you use the right kind of algae.

If you separate the oil from enough algae you have quite a pure source of DHA.

Producing quantities of EPA from algae is much harder but I understand people are working on solving this problem.

When this process becomes cheap enough I think it will be used to replace most fish oil supplements. I might help to stop us fishing the worlds oceans until they are empty. There isn't enough fish left now to provide everyone with fish oil.

Kewpie · Answer 2 · 2011-10-20 17:25:28Z UTC

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Yes. Eggs are vegetarian and a good source of omega 3s--especially if they are pastured. And if you are actually asking about vegans, again yes. Walnuts and flax seed also have omega 3s.

answered Oct 20 2011 at 17:25

Kewpie
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majkinetor · Answer 3 · 2011-10-20 17:41:07Z UTC

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Yes, walnuts and flax and algae. Fishes actually eat algae for it.

answered Oct 20 2011 at 17:41

majkinetor

	Flax doesn't cross the blood/brain barrier though. I've worked with women dealing with postpartum depression, and flax oil doesn't help, but fish oil does. – Happy Now Oct 20 2011 at 20:54
	ALA from flax and walnut can be translated to EPA/DHA in the body. It is 18:3 (n−3) acid. So its not very long. EPA(20:5, n−3) and DHA(22:6, n−3) are longer, particularly DHA which works in brain. I doubt longer molecule can cross BBB more then shorter. There might be some transport system for DHA that is not there for ALA, since 3D structure is not that similar. – majkinetor Oct 21 2011 at 6:51
	So its not certain that this happens. I checked it, and on first look its not clear: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/… ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19442696 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/… sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/… – majkinetor Oct 21 2011 at 7:11
	More: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/… sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/…. So while it really looks like DHA is more potent then aLNA, I think its best not to think about it and take both. – majkinetor Oct 21 2011 at 7:17
	This review is great: jlr.org/content/42/5/678.full – majkinetor Oct 21 2011 at 7:21

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animalcule · Answer 4 · 2011-10-21 01:43:45Z UTC

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Chia seeds are omega-3 powerhouses. Ever read Born to Run? They are becoming trendy now, there are several products available at Whole Foods

answered Oct 21 2011 at 1:43

animalcule
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	Isn't eating seeds inadvisable? – Futureboy Oct 21 2011 at 16:03
	Why would you think that? – animalcule Oct 21 2011 at 19:09

Is there such a thing as vegetarian omega 3’s?

4 Answers