Should vegans supplement DHA and EPA?

May 3, 2021Veganic Tareck10 views

This week at Loma Linda University, specialists were present at the 6th International Congress discussing the Vegetarian Nutrition, where they declared that vegans and Lacto-Ovo vegetarians are less likely than meat-eaters to develop heart diseases, not taking into consideration their low intake of DHA and EPA.

Also, delegates were told that the assumptions that vegans and vegetarians are more likely to have depression, Alzheimer or any mental disease, are false.

ALA has many independent health benefits that sometimes get a lot of attention.

To be exact, vegans and vegetarians typically eat more fiber, less saturated fat, and fewer calories, which leads to cardio benefits, plus, they consume more cardio-protective phytochemicals, and plant-based healthy fats ( omega-3, fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid or ALA from walnuts and flaxseed mainly) according to researchers.

But, would EPA and DHA supplements still be needed? Or is eating a lot of ALA sufficient?

Sujatha Rajaram (Ph.D. associate professor in the Dept of Nutrition at Loma Linda University) confirmed that the majority of the literature about cardiovascular benefits of omega-3 is related to EPA and DHA, truly, ALA has heart health benefits beyond its role in the conversion to EPA and DHA.

Dr. Rajaram added: “There is some evidence to suggest a role for ALA in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes. There are clearly independent health benefits for ALA which oftentimes get overlooked.” After that, he conducted several studies exploring the relative impact of walnuts (which contain ALA) versus fatty fish (which contain EPA and DHA) on biomarkers of cardiovascular risk.

These studies do not advice to vegetarians and vegans to consume long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Source:

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/5/1657S.full.pdf+html

https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2013/02/28/Should-vegetarians-take-supplements-of-EPA-and-DHA-omega-3s