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Fish Oils

05 May 2002

When it comes to choosing the best in fish oils, you don’t always get what you pay for.

There was a time when a cod liver oil was the prescription for whatever was ailing you. But concerns over polluted seas and toxins (like mercury and pesticides) retain-ed in fish livers led to a decline in the use of this dietary supplement. At the same time, some vegetable oils (particularly flaxseed oil) were identified as also being good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, so nutritionists began to ‘prescribe’ these instead.

Accumulating evidence, however, suggests that switching from fish oils, containing eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), to flaxseed oils, which contain alpha-linolenic acid (LNA, used by the body to make EPA and DHA), may not be as sound as first thought.

It has been found that, in elderly people, this process of converting LNA to EPA and DHA may not be as efficient as it should be (Am J Clin Nutr, 1991; 54: 438–6...

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