Many people say that they find it difficult to establish a routine of eating fish regularly. What would you recommend to these people?
Our biomedical expert Erik answers one of the many questions we have received through our Q&A on social media:
- If you do not want to or are unable to eat fatty fish regularly, there is a benefit to consuming Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of EPA and DHA. If that is not an option, consuming the fatty acid ALA is the next best alternative; it is found, for example, in flaxseed oil. ALA itself is an essential fatty acid that the body then converts into EPA and DHA. However, this only occurs in very limited amounts, hence the common recommendation to instead consume an oil that already contains EPA/DHA in their converted forms.
However, quality is of the utmost importance when it comes to products rich in EPA/DHA. These fatty acids are sensitive to oxidation, and more recent research has shown that some commercial fish oil products have been of poor quality, which in the worst case could have the opposite effect to what was intended. It is also speculated that this may be the reason why some studies on fish oil have shown very beneficial effects, while other studies have shown no effect, or a negative effect. I consider DHA-rich algal oil (for vegans and vegetarians) and EPA/DHA-rich krill oil to be better alternatives than fish oil.
