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comparing omega-3s

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This was published in the Natural Foods

Merchandiser that went out today. I thought it

to be of general interest. During the past

couple of weeks I have been saponifying the

omega-3 oils with calcium, potassium, cesium,

gallium, lithium, zinc, etc. On completion my

first major discovery was that my beakers were

amazingly difficult to clean. Next time I'll try silicone muffin trays.

My second major discovery is that there is

nothing quite like a soap that smells like fish

oil. I think I would have no problem selling it

to olfactory handicapped, troglodytic, cat lovers.

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Comparing omega-3s

Eating cold-water, oily fish is flat-out good for

you. Good for your heart. Good for your brain. Good for your eyes.

Even the <http://fda.gov>U.S. Food and Drug

Administration­not always a nutritional

cheerleader­says the omega-3 fatty acids

eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic

acid (DHA) are good for cardio health, in

particular by lowering triglycerides, making

blood platelets less sticky so they don’t form

plaque and preventing sudden heart attacks. The

agency says people can consume 2 out of 3 daily

grams of omega-3s from supplements.

Which is a good idea, because eating uber

quantities of fish every day would deliver more

than enough polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)

contamination. The larger fish we rely so heavily

on, such as tuna and farmed salmon from the

Atlantic Ocean or China, accumulate heavy metals,

like mercury, that can cause a whole host of

health problems. And, apart from Eskimos, who can eat fish every single day?

But which type of supplement to stock? The choice

is expanding all the time, to the point where

some stores have entire shelves dedicated to

omega-3s. Here, we break the choices down to

three areas: the fish oil standard, the

up-and-coming krill source and vegetarian options.

Fish

At Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif.,

this year, an exhibitor had a ticker tracking the

number of fish-oil servings consumed worldwide.

At 10:30 a.m. on March 12, the count was up to

77,451,966,961, with an additional 536 servings tallied every second afterward.

Fish oil is the benchmark from which all other

omega-3 oils are measured. That’s because of the

healthy quantity of EPA and DHA, traditionally in

a 180-to-120 mg ratio, which mimics the ratio naturally found in wild fish.

But studies demonstrate different health benefits

for each omega-3. “EPA … fights inflammation,

such as arthritis and low-grade chronic

inflammation, which is harmful in the long term,”

says Baldur Hjaltason, who oversees strategic

business development for Norway-based fish-oil

supplier <http://epax.com>EPAX. “DHA is a

building unit and very important for healthy

brain and eye development in infants. Poor memory

has been associated with low concentration of

DHA, so regular intake of DHA might be important

to reduce the risk of memory loss in the elderly.”

While many fish-oil suppliers are angling to get

into the food world (and technologies are

allowing that to happen without compromising

purity standards or taste and odor), EPAX has

taken a different route: high-dose concentrates

with different ratios of EPA and DHA to address

specific health conditions. So its eye-health

formula has a greater than 7-to-1 ratio of DHA,

while its joint health formula has a nearly 6-to-1 ratio, advantage EPA.

Krill

This tiny shrimp-like crustacean from the

Antarctic Ocean is taking the omega-3 market by

storm. Krill-oil sales doubled in 2009, and are

looking to double again this year, to $50

million, according to Mickey Schuett, director of

sales and marketing at Boulder, Colo.-based

krill-oil supplier <http://azantis.com>Azantis.

This is maybe 2 percent of the fish-oil

market­numbers not unlike the ratio of organic to conventional foods.

While it’s easy to group krill oil in with fish

oil because they both come from the ocean and

both contain EPA and DHA, krill is an entirely

different beast. It contains about 25 percent

omega-3s (versus 30 percent to 85 percent in fish

oil, depending on the concentrate in the specific

product), but the real differentiator is 40

percent phospholipids and a bit of astaxanthin,

vitamin E and protein. Phospholipids are the

bricks and mortar of cell walls, seen as having a

trifecta of benefits: enabling efficient cellular

communication, enhancing transport of omega-3s

into cells and, as vital fats, making the brain

tick. Astaxanthin is a carotenoid antioxidant

that has been found to protect against retinal

damage, and is also what gives krill­and species

that feed on krill like salmon and lobsters­their

distinctive red-orange color.

Only a very limited number of human studies have

been conducted on krill. One found that giving 90

people 1 gram a day of krill oil reduced

inflammation, as measured by C-reactive protein

levels, and also helped arthritis symptoms.

Another study hypothesized that since the

omega-3s EPA, DHA and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)

have been shown to ameliorate insulin resistance,

a hallmark of diabetes, that maybe krill oil

could also be effective. Turns out it was even

more effective for reducing blood-sugar levels

and all blood-lipid parameters like cholesterol

and triglycerides than either fish oil or placebo.

Clearly more research is needed on the tiny but

mighty Euphausia superba. There’s also some

concern about sustainability, since krill are the

foundation of the marine food chain. (What would

Willie say?) But more than 90 percent of all

krill is harvested for the aquaculture industry,

say krill suppliers, so shoppers should not be

concerned that their personal supplement regime

affects the krill population to any discernible degree at this point.

Also, aboard every krill-harvesting ship is a

representative from the independent Commission

for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living

Resources who monitors the catch and conducts research.

egetarian sources

There are no shortage of ways in which you can

get your fish-oil benefits without actually

consuming an aquatic animal. The option with the

best bona fides is fermented algae that provides

pre-formed DHA, meaning it doesn’t need to be

converted from ALA to DHA like some vegetarian

omega-3 sources. This is the kind mostly found in

infant formula. The catch: no EPA. However,

<http://martek.com>Martek, the Columbia,

Md.-based company that produces life’sDHA brand

fermented DHA, announced at Expo West 2010 that

it will begin producing EPA by the same fermentation technology.

Flax has been the preferred vegetarian

alternative to fish oil, but its omega-3s come

solely from ALA. Like DHA and EPA, ALA is

polyunsaturated, but it’s a short-chain,

18-carbon fatty acid, versus the longer-chain

20-carbon EPA and 22-carbon DHA. The body has a

challenge with ALA: It must work hard to convert

it to the more beneficial EPA and DHA. Typically,

ALA suffers from a poor conversion rate­along the

lines of only 3 percent to 7 percent. Even so,

flax oil and flaxseeds have been found to lower

blood pressure, prevent heart conditions because

of their lignan content and even manage hot flashes.

One new vegetarian source is echium oil. A

relative of borage oil, it has been sold in

Canada for some time but is just now hitting the

American market in earnest. “It’s the coolest new

oil because it has stearidonic acid, which

converts to EPA at a 1-to-1 level, which gives

you similar conversion rates to fish without the

fish oils,” says Cameron Kupper, vice president

of operations at Canadian oil supplier

<http://bioriginal.com>Bioriginal. Apparently,

echium oil does not convert to DHA.

Finally, omega-3s have not gone unnoticed by

purveyors of genetically modified organisms.

Biotech companies like

<http://monsanto.com>Monsanto and

<http://dupont.com>DuPont are researching and

developing seed crops that produce high levels of

omega-3s. DuPont’s New Harvest softgels, which

contain vegetarian EPA derived from yeast, are

already available at GNC stores.

Your customer’s call

Whichever omega-3 supplement source your

customers choose, it’s important not to lose the

forest for the trees, says Adam Ismail, executive

director of <http://goedomega3.com>GOED, the

Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3.

“Short-chain omega-3s like ALA typically come

from plant sources and are considered essential

for nutrition, while long-chain omega-3s

typically come from sources like fish and algae

and have been shown to reduce incidences of many

chronic diseases,” he says. “The deficiency of

omega-3s in the diet is so critical to solve for

public health in the U.S. that consumers need to

be seeking out more of each­it is not about a

choice between the sources.” Thanks to the many

options now available, consumers can now get

their omega-3s from sources to suit their every whim.

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