Having been vegan for eight years now, I’ve come to understand the different vitamins and minerals I might need to supplement for.
From B12 to iodine to iron, I like to make sure I’m hitting all my nutrition marks, and carefully plan what I’m eating to stay healthy. As best as I can, anyway!
But there’s one supplement I’ve not been so great at keeping up on, and have recently learned that maybe I should be.
Because health experts are saying that omega-3 is incredibly important for heart, brain and eye health.
It mostly comes in the form of fish - you’ll likely have seen omega-3 fish oil in health shops and supermarkets - but you can get one form of it from plant foods.
ALA, or alpha-linolenic acid, is found mainly in plant products like nuts and seeds.
Dr Sarah Berry explained in a recent podcast with nutrition science company ZOE, that our bodies can actually convert this ALA into the other two forms of omega-3 fatty acids — EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which are mostly found in large amounts in oily fish.
But our bodies aren’t very effective at this conversion. “On average, we might convert about 10% of ALA into EPA and DHA,” explains Dr Berry. “And this is why some people recommend that vegetarians or vegans might also want to consider having a supplement of this very long-chain EPA and DHA fat.”
What are the benefits of omega-3?
“Both EPA and DHA are the ones that have really important roles in the membranes of our cells and so because of this, they have wide-reaching roles throughout our bodies,” says Dr Berry.
“DHA is found in particularly high concentrations in our brain and our eyes, and therefore it’s especially important in our vision and also in brain development, particularly of newborns.”
As well as brain and eye health, taking omega-3s can come with a host of surprising benefits.
Depression and anxiety
Some studies suggest that omega-3 supplementation can also be helpful for issues like anxiety and depression. Of the three types of omega-3s, EPA seems to be the most beneficial for depression.
Heart health
With heart disease and strokes being the world’s leading cause of death, anything we can do to protect against that is a good idea.
And some older studies suggest that omega-3s could raise HDL (good) cholesterol levels, which absorbs cholesterol in the blood and carries it back to the liver, where it’s then flushed from the body.
The healthy oils have also been shown to help prevent the formation of harmful blood clots, according to research.
Inflammation
Studies suggest that long-term inflammation can contribute to almost every chronic illness, including heart disease and cancer, so anything we can do to help reduce inflammation in our bodies will benefit us in the long run.
And research shows that omega-3 fatty acids can reduce the production of molecules and substances linked to inflammation, such as inflammatory eicosanoids and cytokines.
For vegans who don’t want to eat fish to get their daily dose of healthy DHA and EPA, there are supplements on the market that use algae instead of fish.
This one by Cytoplan is only £20 and delivers 600mg of DHA and 200mg of EPA daily.
And these capsules by Healthspan are vegan-friendly and provide 340mg DHA and 170mg of EPA.