The World Health Organization recommends a daily EPA and DHA intake of 300 - 500 mg and a daily
ALA intake of 800 - 1,100 grams.
Whether or not vegans with adequate
ALA intake actually need to take a supplement is currently unclear.
In the Zutphen Elderly Study, a prospective epidemiologic study with 667 men aged 64 — 84 y, there was no beneficial effect of
ALA intake on incidence of 10 - y coronary artery disease (38).
In contrast to epidemiologic studies that have demonstrated a beneficial association between
ALA intake and CVD, some studies have found the contrary.
ALA intake still had no effect on coronary artery disease risk even when foods that did not contain trans fatty acids were evaluated.
It would be helpful to compare
ALA intake via whole foods vs processed oils.
Many integrative physicians advise
ALA intake in the range of 25 to 50 mgs a day for general antioxidant benefits, with higher dosages for liver problems.
Not exact matches
«We were surprised to find that recommended
intakes of full - fat milk products supply far more of the major omega - 3 fatty acid,
ALA, than recommended servings of fish,» says co-author and WSU research associate Donald R. Davis.
That amount is more than one - third of the daily
ALA amount recommended by the National Academy of Sciences in the Dietary Reference
Intake recommendations, and it's about half of the
ALA contained in one teaspoon of whole flaxseeds.
Naturally, consuming them both means an optimal
intake of the full range of all omega - 3s and leads to optimal health benefits, because fish provides better quality EPA and DHA, while flaxseed supplies the body with
ALA which contributes to the production of plenty other omega - 3 fatty acids, including omega - 6.
In another eye - opening study published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, researchers discovered that
ALA can actually prevent non-alcoholic steatosis brought on by excessive
intake of fats.
While the
intake of alpha linoleic acid (
ALA) was associated with lower mortality in the study period, they didn't distinguish the source of the
ALA..
A high
intake of
ALA is protective against heart attack.
While healthy people already have significant amounts of
ALA,
intake of supplements will set
ALA circulating in free form.
Human milk contains omega - 3s as
ALA, EPA and DHA, so the IOM established an AI for infants from birth to 12 months that is equivalent to the mean
intake of omega - 3s in healthy, breastfed infants.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), only 2 - 3 % of total calories need to come from LA and 1 % of total calories from
ALA to achieve adequate
intake levels.
The recommendation is, therefore to increase your
intake of
ALA - containing foods.
«Although conversion [of
ALA to EPA] is slow and incomplete, it appears to be adequate to meet the needs of most healthy people, if
intake of
ALA is sufficient.»
[45] In the United States and Canada are Adequate
Intakes for
ALA and LA over various stages of life, but there are no
intake levels specified for EPA and / or DHA.
With its excellent content of the omega - 3 fatty acid alpha - linolenic acid (
ALA), flaxseed can definitely help us increase our overall omega - 3
intake and, by doing so, decrease our risk of high blood pressure.
These studies found a strong inverse relation between
intake of omega - 3 fatty acid in the form of
ALA and triglyceride levels.
With respect to the Canadian recommendation, which does not distinguish
ALA from EPA and DHA, and thus, reflects total n − 3 fatty acid
intake, it is apparent that if fish were used exclusively to achieve the n − 3 fatty acid recommendation, appreciably more fatty fish would have to be included in the diet daily (ie, 45 — 131 g / d).