Recommendation on vegan EPA/DHA supplement?

Chimichanga · **Joined:** Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:07 am **Posts:** 519

I was wondering if anyone here is using vegan EPA/DHA supplement that they have had good results with. I would like to administer this to my teenage daughter to improve memory. Just want to try for few months any way.

jay kaye · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:13 am

Why use supplements? Just a few black walnuts will do as well.

Quote:

The omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is the precursor or “parent” to the two long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Walnuts contain ALA and fatty fish contain EPA and DHA. (Human) Metabolic reactions enable ALA to be converted into EPA and DHA.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looking at whether walnuts (providing ALA) and fatty fish (providing EPA and DHA) have similar effects on specific blood markers associated with Coronary Heart Disease. The study found that a diet including walnuts was more powerful in reducing total and LDL (bad) cholesterol when compared to fatty fish. Healthy individuals who consumed walnuts reduced their total cholesterol by 5.4% and LDL by 9.3% translating to an 18.6% decrease in risk of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).....http://www.walnuts.org/walnuts/index.cf ... lnut-faqs/

j

Katydid · **Joined:** Sat Jan 09, 2010 7:30 am **Posts:** 2622

jay kaye wrote:

Why use supplements? Just a few black walnuts will do as well.

Quote:

The omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is the precursor or “parent” to the two long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Walnuts contain ALA and fatty fish contain EPA and DHA. (Human) Metabolic reactions enable ALA to be converted into EPA and DHA.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looking at whether walnuts (providing ALA) and fatty fish (providing EPA and DHA) have similar effects on specific blood markers associated with Coronary Heart Disease. The study found that a diet including walnuts was more powerful in reducing total and LDL (bad) cholesterol when compared to fatty fish. Healthy individuals who consumed walnuts reduced their total cholesterol by 5.4% and LDL by 9.3% translating to an 18.6% decrease in risk of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).....http://www.walnuts.org/walnuts/index.cf ... lnut-faqs/

j

Black walnuts are evil :twisted:

. My mom used to buy them and then proceed to ruin a perfectly good banana bread. Nasty bitter things. English walnuts on the other hand...

But Jay is right. Except for some elderly men, most people can convert ALA to EPA/DHA just fine. Walnuts, ground flaxseed, hemp seed, chia seeds, salva inchi seeds are all good sources of ALA. I think SILK makes a milk substitute fortified with EPA/DHA as well.

Kate

GeoffreyLevens · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:28 am

Quote:

Except for some elderly men, most people can convert ALA to EPA/DHA just line.

As an elderly man (62 :lol:

) I take exception to that! The only way you can know if your conversion is adequate is to take a blood test. There are now home tests available, finger stick and mail in, and you can get them through a doctor and any of the bigger labs like Quest etc.

Is 58-59 elderly? That is when I became very symptomatic of EFA deficiency, which all cleared up when I added a DHA source (extracted from algae)

GeoffreyLevens · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:33 am

Oh, and to original question,
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_dha_epa.html

I use
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_dha_softgels.html

or

http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_liquid_dha_omega-3.html

Chimichanga · **Joined:** Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:07 am **Posts:** 519

GeoffreyLevens wrote:

Quote:

Is 58-59 elderly? That is when I became very symptomatic of EFA deficiency, which all cleared up when I added a DHA source (extracted from algae)

Geoffrey,

Thanks for the info. You said you only take DHA? HOw many soft gels per day? One doesn't need EPA?? How long it took for you to notice a difference?

GeoffreyLevens · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:10 pm

Chimichanga wrote:

GeoffreyLevens wrote:

Quote:

Is 58-59 elderly? That is when I became very symptomatic of EFA deficiency, which all cleared up when I added a DHA source (extracted from algae)

Geoffrey,

Thanks for the info. You said you only take DHA? HOw many soft gels per day? One doesn't need EPA?? How long it took for you to notice a difference?

I take one soft gel or however many drops to equal about 200 mg. DHA easily converts to EPA as needed in the body (unlike ALA to either of those). Taking EPA as well is fine, just not high dose as it starts to get mildly immune suppressing (that can be useful in early stages of recovering from autoimmune diseases though).

I started w/ double dosing DHA and added flax and other seeds as well. Took a couple couple months to really be sure things were correcting, maybe 6 months to stabilize at better level. I had increasing sinus allergies, joint pain, insanely dry and itchy skin and dandruff like Frosty the Snowman. Plus strange rashes and sores that lingered and refused to heal. Pretty much all good now...

greentea · **Joined:** Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:46 pm **Posts:** 1295

Thanks for the info Geoffrey. I was going to ask about that too.

Chimichanga · **Joined:** Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:07 am **Posts:** 519

Geoffery,

In your opinion and experience, ther eason you need DHA because you can't convert ALA to DHA? ALA can convert to EPA but not DHA?? Is this true? Had you been taking plant sources of ALA such as Flax, walnuts before embarking on DHA journey? or you started them at the same time i.e. flax, walnuts and DHA supplemets?

Thank you- you seem to be having wealth of knowledge from Planks to nuts to DHA !!!

GeoffreyLevens · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 4:57 pm

ALA converts to EPA and from there it can convert to DHA, maybe. DHA converts pretty easily to EPA so if you are only going to supplement one, DHA would be it. When all this happened with me, I could not find a vegan supp that had both so just took the DHA. And yes, I do not covert well apparently because I took ground flax (which has other benefits besides the ALA) only first for several months before adding the DHA

didi · **Joined:** Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:35 pm **Posts:** 2307

Geoffrey, you're just a kid. I'll be 69 next month which means, had we lived in the same neighborhood while growing up, I would have been your baby sitter.

Didi

GeoffreyLevens · **Posted:** Fri May 04, 2012 7:47 am

didi wrote:

Geoffrey, you're just a kid. I'll be 69 next month which means, had we lived in the same neighborhood while growing up, I would have been your baby sitter.

Didi

You likely would have! Funny how those things tend to even out when we get past a certain age though

hastings · **Joined:** Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:05 pm **Posts:** 46

GeoffreyLevens wrote:

Oh, and to original question,
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_dha_epa.html

I use
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_dha_softgels.html

or

http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_liquid_dha_omega-3.html

I was interested in this product, but saw the following as the first item in "Other Ingredients":

High Oleic Sunflower Oil

Have you come across any vegan DHA/EPA that doesn't contain oil?

EDIT: After doing some more online searching, I came across the following oil-free DHA/EPA supplement. Thoughts?

http://www.nuique.com/omega3/

GeoffreyLevens · **Posted:** Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:51 am

hastings wrote:

GeoffreyLevens wrote:

Oh, and to original question,
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_dha_epa.html

I use
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_dha_softgels.html

or

http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_liquid_dha_omega-3.html

I was interested in this product, but saw the following as the first item in "Other Ingredients":

High Oleic Sunflower Oil

Have you come across any vegan DHA/EPA that doesn't contain oil?

I never even think about it. If zero added fat is your absolute, then you probably shouldn't supplement w/ EFA's at all because they are polyunsaturated oils themselves! Just looked at the capsules and one 500 mg (0.5 gram) cap of DHA contains 200 mg of the DHA so worst case that would be 300 mg (0.3 grams) of the other oil. That is a total of 2.7 calories per day. Basically close to "homeopathic" amount.

cache22 · **Joined:** Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:35 pm **Posts:** 6

Target sells a 30 count algal DHA prenatal supplement 200 mg. for about $8.00 if my memory serves me. It is in a pink and white box, perhaps in the vitamin section of the store.

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Recommendation on vegan EPA/DHA supplement?

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