Alert!
A reference to ‘Omega-3’ on a package can give you a mistaken feeling that you are getting enough omega-3 fatty acids with your food. Take a close look at which omega-3 it is: is it ALA, EPA or DHA? Many breakfast cereals are only enriched with essential ALA, but do not contain the heart-friendly EPA and DHA.
Foodstuffs that are indirectly enriched with omega-3 fatty acids do not offer any guarantee that they will cover your omega-3 requirement. This is the case with eggs, ‘proper’ butter and meat if the chickens, cows or other animals are fed with linseed (a source of ALA), algae or fish oil (sources of EPA/DHA). In order to get a daily heart-friendly portion of 1g EPA+DHA, you would have to eat, every day, 15 eggs, 1.7kg ‘proper’ real butter or 25kg of pork. Not realistic daily quantities! In the case of directly enriched foods, it is advisable to check on the relationship between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. The Western diet contains too much omega-6 compared with omega-3, mainly due to the high consumption of meat (source of the omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid or AA) and vegetable oils, such as safflower, sunflower, maize, sesame and peanut oil, which are processed in many products as hidden fats (sources of omega-6 fatty acid, linoleic acid or LA). We owe it to our health to consume more omega-3 fatty acids to correct the omega-6/omega-3 balance. As a consumer, you can see that you need to check the nutrition labelling very carefully: omega-3, omega-6, ALA, LA, AA, EPA, DHA. If you opt for a high-quality fish oil supplement, then you have an easy way of keeping control over your omega-3 intake of heart-friendly EPA and DHA and contributing to a correction in the omega-6/omega-3 balance. The choice is yours.