Omega-3 benefits such as better memory and general brain health are well documented. The key is getting omega-3 fats from the right foods and supplements.
The discovery of the importance of essential fatty acids (EFAs) has been hailed as one of the most important health advances in modern nutrition.
Omega-3 essential fatty acids in particular are one of the most beneficial groups of
nutrients for your brainand overall health.
Omega-3 fats build brain cell membranes, reduce
brain inflammation, and promote new brain cell formation.
They can improve your mood and
memory and give you protection against brain disorders ranging from depression to dementia.
Omega-3s lower your risk of major chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. (
1)
But deficiency is widespread — 70% of Americans are believed to be omega-3 deficient. (
2)
Omega-3 deficiency is linked to over 50 diseases and contribute to 96,000 preventable deaths per year. (
3,
4)
So we know we need our omega-3 fatty acids, but there’s a lot of confusion about how to get them from both foods and supplements.
Let’s take a deeper look at why omega-3s are so important for health, then discuss how to best include them in your diet.
Omega-3 to Omega-6 Ratio and Inflammation
Before we can discuss omega-3 further, we need to introduce you to the other main kind of essential fatty acids — omega-6.
Omega-3 benefits are widely known.
Most of these benefits are due to its anti-inflammatory properties.
Omega-6 fats, on the other hand, are pro-inflammatory and contribute to chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is a contributing factor to most major diseases including heart disease, autoimmune diseases, nephritis, cancer, and diabetes. (
5)
It can contribute to Alzheimer’s and stroke. (
6)
We need some omega-6s in our diet, but most of us consume way too much.
Ideally, we should be eating at most 2-4 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fats.
A diet with a 10-to-1 ratio is considered to be detrimental to health. (
7)
Our ancestors ate a ratio of 1-1. (
8)
But our
modern food diet has this ratio completely lopsided.
The average American eats upwards of
25 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fats. (
9)
The major source of omega-6 fats in our diet is from supposedly healthy vegetable oils like canola, safflower, and soy oils.
Some experts believe that it’s your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio that’s most important.
Others believe it’s the absolute amounts that matter most.
Related articles on Be Brain Fit —
Omega-3 Fats and Your Brain
Omega-3 brain benefits are derived mostly from DHA and, to a lesser degree, EPA.
DHA is a primary structural component of the brain and specifically of the
cerebral cortex, the area of the brain responsible for memory, language, abstraction, creativity, judgment, emotion and attention. (
10)
Low DHA levels have been linked to depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, memory loss, and Alzheimer’s. (
11)
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Seniors with a higher level of DHA are significantly less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s than people with a low level of DHA. (
12)
DHA shields against age-related mental decline, improving both learning and memory in older adults. (
13)
People with a low DHA level actually have smaller brains and exhibit more cognitive impairment than those with an adequate level. (
14)
Omega-3 Foods in the Modern Diet: Quality Matters
Simply giving you an omega-3 foods list wouldn’t be much help.
How much omega-3 you can get from food depends on numerous factors, including the quality of the food source and the form of the EFA found in it.
Here are the most important things to consider when seeking to get your omega-3 fats from food.
Plant vs Animal Sources of Omega-3
Omega-3 fats are found in both plants and animals, but each contains different forms of omega-3.
Animal sources are high in health-promoting EPA and DHA.
ALA gets converted in the body to EPA and DHA, but not very well. (
15)
In fact, a minuscule amount gets converted.
Less than 5% of ALA gets converted to EPA, and less than 0.5% is converted to DHA. (
16)
Plant Sources of Omega-3
ALA is found in flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, soy beans, purslane, and seaweed.
Nut and seed oils such as flaxseed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, pumpkin seed oil, and walnut oil contain some ALA.
But vegetable and seed oils are also high in inflammatory omega-6 fats.
You can see in the chart below how the presence of ALA (in orange) is countered by omega-6 (in blue).
Image courtesy of AnEggADayisOK.ca
Poor ALA conversion into omega-3 fats, plus the presence of omega-6 fats, makes most plant foods poor sources of omega-3.
Fish Sources of Omega-3
The best omega-3 food sources are cold water fish such as herring, salmon, mackerel, halibut, and sardines. (
17)
But there are many concerns about eating too much fish, such as high levels of mercury, PCBs, pesticides, and other contaminants.
Do the omega-3 benefits outweigh the risks of eating fish?
Let’s look at the case of salmon, the most popular cold water fish.
Wild vs Farmed Salmon
Most salmon you’ll find in the supermarket is farm-raised, even if it’s labeled wild.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), most salmon sold in US is farm-raised then incorrectly labeled “Atlantic salmon.” (
18)
They recommend eating only Alaskan wild salmon, either fresh or canned, as this is the lowest in contaminants while still high in omega-3s. (
19)
Since the production of one pound of farmed salmon uses over six pounds of fish, contaminants accumulate. (
20)
Farmed salmon has more fat than wild salmon and a large part of these fats are unhealthy omega-6. (
21)
The trend is for fish farms to replace fish oil in fish feed with less expensive vegetable oil, so we can expect omega-6 to omega-3 ratios to get worse. (
22)
Wild salmon contains fewer contaminants than farm-raised, and no antibiotics. (
23)
Farmed salmon was found to contain high concentrations of dioxins and pesticides, and alarmingly more PCBs than any other protein source. (
24)
The chart below compares omega-3 content versus levels of mercury.
Seafood in the upper right hand corner is the healthiest by these two measures.
Image courtesy of WashingtonPost.com
So to answer our original question — is eating fish worth the risk?
At least for now, it looks like the omega-3 benefits of moderate fish consumption (1-2 times per week) outweigh the risks, especially if eating wild-caught cold water fish. (
25)
Land Animal Sources of Omega-3
Meat, poultry, and eggs can be good sources of omega-3 depending on how the animals they come from are raised.
Animals can’t manufacture omega-3 fats.
They get it from the food they eat.
Throughout most of human history, if you wanted meat for dinner, some of your tribe went hunting.
Wild game is still an excellent source of omega-3s. (
26)
Until fairly recently, domesticated animals spent their life grazing on wild grasses and other natural omega-3 food sources.
But now most cattle spend their days in feedlots eating foods unnatural to them like soy and corn — foods that don’t contain omega-3 fats.
This major change in our food supply is largely responsible for our current epidemic of omega-3 essential fatty acid deficiency.
Grass-fed beef and bison, pasture-fed pork and lamb, and free range chicken and their eggs contain significantly more omega-3s than their mass-produced counterparts. (
27)
Omega-3 Supplements
If all this talk about food sources has left you thinking it’s hard to get all the omega-3 fatty acids you need from food alone, you’re absolutely right.
There is little doubt that this is why an estimated 70% of the population is omega-3 deficient. (
28)
For most of us, supplementation is the answer.
There are three popular sources of omega-3 supplements — flaxseed oil, fish oil, and krill oil.
Flaxseed oil has a low conversion rate of ALA to the more healthy and effective EPA and
DHA.
Studies show that flaxseed oil does not increase blood levels of DHA, so it is not really a contender. (
29,
30)
Fish Oil Benefits
Fish oil is one of the most popular nutritional supplements, and one of the most widely studied.
Americans spend $2.6 billion yearly on it. (
31)
The National Institutes of Health lists over 20,000 published studies on it.
- ADHD
- aggression
- anxiety
- bipolar disorder
- cognition in the elderly
- dementia (decreased risk)
- depression
- memory
- mood and general well-being
- processing accuracy
- reaction time
- stress
- stroke (both preventative and therapeutic)
Other proven health benefits of fish oil include decreased inflammation and associated pain of rheumatoid arthritis, normalized triglyceride, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels, increased bone density, and reduced of risk of heart disease, cancer, macular degeneration, and diabetes. (
33,
34)
Krill Oil — A Better Alternative to Fish Oil?
Until recently, fish oil has been the omega-3 supplement of choice.
But now there’s an alternative that may be superior to fish oil — krill oil.
Krill are small shrimp found in the waters of the Antarctic.
The DHA molecules in krill oil are attached to phospholipids, which facilitate their passage through the intestinal wall.
This makes krill oil more bioavailable and more readily absorbed than fish oil. (
35)
Since krill oil is absorbed more efficiently, you can achieve the same benefits with lower doses. (
36)
This also means it’s easier to digest and doesn’t leave a fishy aftertaste.
Krill oil is also an excellent source of astaxanthin, an extremely potent antioxidant that naturally keeps krill oil fresh. (
37)
Astaxanthin is a carotenoid that gives shrimp its pink color and makes krill capsules red.
Astaxanthin readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, allowing it to easily neutralize free radicals and halt oxidative damage to your brain cells. (
38)
Note that krill oil should be avoided if you’re allergic to shellfish.
Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids: The Bottom Line
Omega-3 essential fatty acids are one of the most important nutrients for your brain health, mental well-being, and overall health.
Here’s a quick summary of what you need to know to get the level of omega-3s you need in your diet.
- Plants are not reliable sources of EPA and DHA — the most effective form of EFAs. These are the kind you want in your diet.
- To get omega-3 fats from animal sources, look for labels that say wild-caught, grass-fed, pasture-raised, or free range.
- The omega-3 benefits of moderate fish consumption outweigh the risks, especially if eating wild-caught cold water fish.
- Most people benefit from a quality omega-3 supplement. The most popular and effective are either fish oil or krill oil.
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