Post Punk Kitchen Forum

hi folks!
i could really use some help. here's the basics: i need to convert 2g of fish oil into the equivalent of vegan omega 3s. either dha or epa would work.

the background: i royally forked up my shoulder. it's pretty bad, but feeling a tiny little better. somehow, i froze it, which means that a lot of scar tissue has formed on my shoulder, which hurts a lot and is preventing me from using my arm. i have a very limited range of motion. i have exercises to use from physical therapy and have been getting acupuncture twice a week. lots of epsom soaks, too. the acupuncturist told me that i need to take the equivalent of 2g of fish oil, since omega 3s are very anti-inflammatory. i bought a liquid omega 3 supplement from food fight, and am just taking what the bottle says to take, but i really need to make sure i'm getting enough. i am also grinding up about a tbl of flax seeds in a smoothie every evening. can anyone help me with this? googling doesn't really pull up the right info...

xo
kittee

Will this help? http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/628/2

i don't think so. unless i am missing where the omega 3 breakdown is? i see where i can narrow it down to 4g, but that's it. thanks for trying.

xo
kittee

Is that what you need?

maybe? i really need an epa/dha breakdown.
xo
kittee

can this be right? according to how i'm reading this site:

1/2 tsp fish oil=2 gm=444mg omega 3s
versus
1 tbl of ground flaxseed which contains 1597 mg of omega 3s?

woh.

I really don't know, unfortunately. I hope someone else can help!

That is correct. Flax is the best source of ala we know of. I'm not sure how much dha is in fish oil on average but according to this study, algae oil is more anti-inflammatory than fish oil - http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/mee ... cts/S201-a

this might help...

try looking at a fish oil supplement like one of these http://www.spectrumorganics.com/?id=210#j26 the nutrition label should say how much total omega 3 and how much DHA and EPA are in them

On one of them it's 240 mg DHA per 2 softgels which is substantially less than can be found in many vegan dha supplements (omega zen has 300 per capsule).

This gives the amount of DHA and EPA-- DHA is also known as 22:6(n-3) and EPA is 20:5(n-3). 100 grams of cod liver oil contains 10.967 g of DHA and 6.899 g of EPA according to them. So, 2 g of cod liver oil has 219.34 mg of DHA and 137.98 mg of EPA.

Also from that site, salmon oil has 18.230 g of DHA and 13.024 g of EPA per 100 g, which means 2 g of salmon oil has 364.6 mg of DHA and 260.48 mg of EPA.

thanks for helping me. the liquid omega 3 i have has 200mg dha per serving. so i guess i'm wondering, can i OD on this if i take more than one serving a day, and also how can i get more epa, because that was what is really recommended, and also, does anyone know of a supplement that is really great i should find instead? or is the one below enough? i am really confused and just feeling really bad and can't find anyone who can help. i even talked to a nutritionist on the phone and they didn't really know. dazee thinks i should just stick to flax, because these are expensive.

this is the one i am taking--the deha is from algae oil:
http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_liquid_dha_omega-3.html

thank you!!!
xo
kittee

kittee, you can't OD on it. i'm i'm sure you could, but you won't if you double or triple the servings. the omega-3s in flax seed and flax oil convert pretty readily to EPA, but not so much DHA, which is why you find more DHA supplements out there. I think taking DHA and Flax will be good for you.

but also, if you're supposed to be getting 219 mg of DHA based on that calculation above and your supplement contains 200mg I really wouldn't worry about 19mg difference.

That is a weird recommendation because EPA has been found to have less effect on inflammation than DHA (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16781858). There is a vegan supplement for it now though. V-pure has it in a small amount in their DHA capsules and a large amount (600 mg per capsule!) can be found here - http://www.newharvest.com/New_Harvest/u ... n_epa.html

thanks. ug. i just want to feel better.

xo
kittee

I know this article does not contain a conversion chart, but it should still help you understand the current research on ALA, DHA, EPA, what they do, potential side effects of taking too much and recommendations on how much to take. Jack Norris is very honest about this stuff and is rigorous and current in his research. Hopefully that will help you come to a good figure to set for your own intake, it even includes a handy chart at the bottom with known pill-form options and their cost per 300mg DHA, which is useful for the budget conscious.

http://veganhealth.org/articles/omega3

Also, according to this:
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/omega-3 ... _docosahe/
most fish oil supplements contain approximately 18 % EPA and 12% DHA . So in 2 grams, that would be 360 mg EPA and 240 mg DHA. However, this website doesn't seem to cite it's sources, so I can't verify that for sure.

Good luck, and I'm sorry about your shoulder!

I hope you get some relief Kittee. Shoulder issues can take such a long time to heal. I'm hoping the supplements whisk you off to a speedy recovery.

thanks bubs! miz mac, those are great links, thanks!

xo
kittee

I would suggest ginger and garlic (based on nothing) but also found this:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02012/an ... atory-diet

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02995/Dr ... ramid.html

I'm not sure how credible it is, but I hope it's some help.

Fish oil has DHA and EPA, while flax only has EPA. EPA doesn't do much for people, but DHE and EPA do. A good vegetarian source is algae, but it tends to be expensive.

http://www.iherb.com/Deva-Vegan-Omega-3 ... caps/13773