Monday, November 19, 2007
Walking down supermarket aisles, you may have noticed lately that numerous new products are proudly and prominently boasting "contains omega-3s" on the label. How true is this claim? Does it hold real health benefits? After all, omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil have been conclusively s...
To the author.
I'm afraid you are inducing a confusion in readers minds between alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), which is an omega-3 fatty acid, and linoleic acid (LA) which is an omega-6 fatty acid. Linoleic acid is not an abbreviation for alpha-linoleic acid, they're 2 very different nutrients!
ALA can be converted to some extent into DHA and EPA by the body, but not so much, that's what you meant. However you wrote "only a tiny amount of linoleic acid is converted into the biologically active omega-3s, EPA and DHA".
Admit that's very confusing, especially in an article which purpose is to separate the truth from the myth.
Nonetheless, this said, I agree with your vision, consumers need clarity.
Thanks for your interest.
Actually, I was referring to neither linoleic acid nor alpha-linoleic acid, but to linolenic acid (with an "n"). Perhaps that's where the confusion came from.
Regards,
Dr. Davis