Omega-3 Sources

It’s #researchreview time! Tonight we’re looking at omega 3’s, fish oil and krill oil. When we look at absorbing the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA there are a few considerations that go into what we should take. First off is how is the fatty acid stored. In Krill oil the FA is delivered to the body in a phospholipid while fish oil often delivers the fatty acid in a triglyceride form. Research has shown that the brain likes to absorb phospholipids better and the stomach can absorb them at a 40% better rate. The issue comes in when we look at the amounts in normal supplements where many krill oil supplements only contain 1/10th the amount of EPA/DHA that fish oil does. Thus even if we absorb twice as much we’re still not getting as much. Conclusion: if you can take the same amount or even close krill oil wins the race but if not maybe taking a very high quality fish oil is a good starting point. The wildcard is that krill oil also contains the antioxidant astaxanthin that helps with inflammation, cell repair, HDL etc.