On: Depression is an inflammatory disease; where does ...

[jonahx]

I am not an expert, but I've read in many places that the omega-3 in flax oil is far inferior, to the point of almost being worthless, compared with fish oil. IIRC the problem is that flax contains omega-3 in the form of ALA, in contrast to fish oil, which contains EPA and DHA -- the forms we actually need. The body can convert ALA to EPA and DHA, but the conversion process is extremely inefficient (something like only 5% get converted).

[dllthomas → jonahx]

"The body can convert ALA to EPA and DHA, but the conversion process is extremely inefficient (something like only 5% get converted."

Interesting. I wonder if that would be practical to do synthetically.

[hershel → dllthomas]

There are companies working on growing omega-3 using algae.

[diogenescynic → hershel]

It's already being done. Horizon organic milk has DHA and Omega-3 added from algae products. "While some DHA is derived from fish, we use only plant-based, water-extracted DHA": http://www.horizondairy.com/products/milk-plus-dha-omega-3/w...

[tostitos1979 → diogenescynic]

I have a fish allergy that makes me a bit nervous to take fish oil. I tried fax seed and stopped after reading about its ineffectiveness. How much milk should I be drinking for the Omega-3 benefits?

Edit: let me be specific. According to the web, each serving of this milk contains 32mg DHA Omega-3. The fish oil recommendation seems to be 3 grams of fish oil. How do these equate?

[WalterSear → hershel]

You have been able to buy it at fancy health food stores for several years now.

[chc → hershel]

You can already buy several different kinds of algae-derived omega-3 DHA supplements on Amazon. But the best deal there is Ovega-3, which at $0.29 per pill is about twice as expensive as fish oil.