Abstract
Health care practitioners have long been taught that plant-based omega-3 dietary sources rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) convert inefficiently into the longer-chain fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Following this line of reasoning, the cardiovascular and inflammaging benefits associated with these omega-3 fatty acids are best achieved by consuming oily fish or direct EPA/DHA supplementation. Omega-3 SDA bypasses a key hepatic rate-limiting step in the body’s natural capacity to form EPA and DHA in blood and key tissues like the liver, adipose fat, and brain. A new analytical science technique (compound-specific isotope analysis) that can answer precisely how quickly EPA and DHA are turning over in key tissues, reflecting physiological demand, and where newly formed EPA and DHA came from in the diet is showing that conventional omega-3 index measures are dramatically underrepresenting whole-body omega-3 synthesis and accrual. This discovery upends conventional dogma related to plant-based dietary ALA and SDA sources being poorly or inefficiently converted in the body. Coupled with recent clinical and preclinical evidence summarized here that SDA-rich sources like Buglossoides arvensis seed oil have comparable or superior anti-inflammatory, gut-brain axis protective, and insulin-sensitizing effects to conventional EPA/DHA sources, health care practitioners can confidently recommend plant-based SDA-rich dietary sources to obtain complementary and clinically relevant health and health span benefits as from EPA/DHA sources. New evidence shows that the body is forming EPA/DHA far more dynamically and adaptively in response to physiological need than has been understood. With climate change and rising ocean temperatures decreasing sustainable supplies of ocean-based EPA/DHA sources, increasing complementary recommendations for SDA-rich sources in clinical practice can play a valuable role in realizing the promise of improved omega-3 intakes on the health of people and our planet alike.
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