Hi, I have a friend who is a vegan so he won't take Omega-3 Fish Oil supplements which have a DHA/EPA of 1/2. He is currently taking Flax Seed Oil. I found http://www.devanutrition.com/vegan_DHA.html but what about EPA? Where can he get vegan EPA? Thanks Danno

[color=darkred:ca9e6cc1b1]Try searching for info on algae oil.[/color:ca9e6cc1b1]

I searched Google on "Algae EPA" and "Algae Oil" and came up with nothing on algae oil supplements that contains BOTH DHA and EPA. Can someone point me to such a product? Danno

[quote:4f405f9ac2="Danno"]I searched Google on "Algae EPA" and "Algae Oil" and came up with nothing on algae oil supplements that contains BOTH DHA and EPA. Can someone point me to such a product? Danno[/quote:4f405f9ac2] I am not aware of any. Algae produce DHA which the fish turn into EPA. The human body can also turn DHA into EPA, just not very quickly. However, it is the best way for a Vegan to get EPA --that is until genetically engineered plants start producing EPA. Don't laugh, they are working on commercializing it now.

Find a source of Stearidonic acid. You avoid the inherent limitations of the Delta-6-Desaturation of ALA, and it is readily enlogated and desaturated to EPA. It would also act as a competetive inhibitior of the Delta-5-Desature enzyme that converts DGLA to AA. Sources are: Black Currant Seed Oil (2-4%) Echium Oil, a member of the Boraginaceae family (up to 20%) http://www.nutraingredients.com/new...patent-for One caveat--because these oils are derived from seeds, they may also have a high omega-6 content. Michael J James, et al [i:e5a17cd75d]"Metabolism of stearidonic acid in human subjects: comparison with the metabolism of other n-3 fatty acids"[/i:e5a17cd75d] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 77, No. 5, 1140-1145, May 2003 Virginia M. Ursin [i:e5a17cd75d]"Modification of Plant Lipids for Human Health: Development of Functional Land-Based Omega-3 Fatty Acids" [/i:e5a17cd75d]J. Nutr. 133:4271-4274, December 2003 Marc E. Surette, et al [i:e5a17cd75d]"Dietary Echium Oil Increases Plasma and Neutrophil Long-Chain (n-3) Fatty Acids and Lowers Serum Triacylglycerols in Hypertriglyceridemic Humans"[/i:e5a17cd75d] J. Nutr. 134:1406-1411, June 2004

there are definitely algae-derived DHA supplements out there..... I bought one at GNC two years ago. Sorry, don't remember the name. I posted about it here once, but my post got deleted.

Neuromins is the algae-based DHA supp that I can recall. Danno was looking for a vegan-based product that also contained EPA.