17 replies to this topic

[Charmion]

I have a friend who is allergic to fish and doesn't want to mess with fish oil, and wonders what alternative sources of EPA/DHA he could take. I was wondering about this myself, as I plan to start a rotation diet one of these days, and since on such a diet you have to rotate not only foods but food-based supplements as well, I wanted one or two good reasonable alternative sources of EPA and/or DHA so that I could still hammer in these fats daily while off of fish oil. I also wondered if there were perhaps products out there that contain pure chemical form of EPA and/or DHA in reasonable dosages completely divorced from any fish oils; alas, I have not been able to find any. I currently take around one gram of combined EPA/DHA daily.

P.S. I am not looking for flax or any such plant oils; I am looking for EPA and/or DHA.

[ajnast4r]

this is what i use...totally vegetarian: http://www.v-pure.com/

[Charmion]

This looks quite good. They are out of stock, though. Do you use this on a regular basis? You know if they stock up fast when they're out? What's the shipping to the U.S.?

[ajnast4r]

This looks quite good. They are out of stock, though. Do you use this on a regular basis? You know if they stock up fast when they're out? What's the shipping to the U.S.?

i've been using it for the better part of the past year... they usually are back in stock very quickly. i dont remember what shipping is but its not expensive, they have a US warehouse.

[Charmion]

Thank you so much. Any more suggestions are welcome.

[Logan]

Alpha linonenic acid in chia, flax, and hemp does convert over to dha and epa. It's just a matter of how much I guess. This could depend on the person or diet. I don't think we know yet roughly how much DHA and EPA are converted in the body from ALA.

[nameless]

I'm not entirely sure what you are looking for when you say you want Omega 3s, but not from fish or plant oils, as fish get their Omega 3s from algae. Unless you meant you didn't want ALA. Other sources I am aware of are things like Aor's vegan Omega 3s -- but it's a plant source.

http://www.aor.ca/ht...ucts.php?id=227

It uses algae and shikonin oil, going the SDA route in order for the body to produce EPA. You'd have to do your own research there as if it's better or not than ALA (I never looked into it). Being an AOR product, I also expect it to be pricey.

Or there is krill oil, which might or might not cause an allergic reaction in someone who is allergic to fish. And it too is on the expensive side.

The V-pure product is an interesting one, but I assumed it had more EPA than it did. If not in stock and you wanted something immediately, you could look at other algae DHA products. They won't have EPA, but the 20mg or so in V-Pure isn't exactly a large dose anyway.

One thing I've wondered about regarding omega 3s from non-fish sources is, do the oxidation levels differ for EPA/DHA based on the source? That is, would DHA from plants theoretically oxidize at a lower rate compared to DHA from fish oil?

Pretty sure I read somewhere oxidation goes (from lowest to highest), something like ALA - EPA - DHA. Just not sure if the source matters.

Edited by nameless, 09 November 2010 - 04:52 PM.

[ajnast4r]

the AOR stuff looks neat, but way expensive... 50$ for 30 servings vs v-pure's 30$ for 90 (more potent) servings.

i'm not sure about the oxidation... i'll shoot them an email and post back

[Charmion]

I'm not entirely sure what you are looking for when you say you want Omega 3s, but not from fish or plant oils, as fish get their Omega 3s from algae. Unless you meant you didn't want ALA. Other sources I am aware of are things like Aor's vegan Omega 3s -- but it's a plant source.

http://www.aor.ca/ht...ucts.php?id=227

It uses algae and shikonin oil, going the SDA route in order for the body to produce EPA. You'd have to do your own research there as if it's better or not than ALA (I never looked into it). Being an AOR product, I also expect it to be pricey.

Or there is krill oil, which might or might not cause an allergic reaction in someone who is allergic to fish. And it too is on the expensive side.

The V-pure product is an interesting one, but I assumed it had more EPA than it did. If not in stock and you wanted something immediately, you could look at other algae DHA products. They won't have EPA, but the 20mg or so in V-Pure isn't exactly a large dose anyway.

One thing I've wondered about regarding omega 3s from non-fish sources is, do the oxidation levels differ for EPA/DHA based on the source? That is, would DHA from plants theoretically oxidize at a lower rate compared to DHA from fish oil?

Pretty sure I read somewhere oxidation goes (from lowest to highest), something like ALA - EPA - DHA. Just not sure if the source matters.

Just to clarify: I never said I wanted Omega 3's; I said I wanted EPA and/or DHA source that is non-fish. When I said I did not want such things as flax oil, I meant that I did not want people to confuse my saying that I wanted EPA/DHA with saying that I wanted Omega 3's, and thus recommend something like flax which has omega 3's but not EPA or DHA.

I did look into kirll oil before I inquired here, but it is extraordinarily expensive to get even a decent dose every day from that stuff. But yes, there is always that. I just figured there may be better choices. That product you link to looks great, especially with the stearidonic acid, which is interesting.


What do you think of this. I found it after doing some more searching. It has 300 mg DHA per serving, and 75 servings per bottle.

[Logan]

I'm not entirely sure what you are looking for when you say you want Omega 3s, but not from fish or plant oils, as fish get their Omega 3s from algae. Unless you meant you didn't want ALA. Other sources I am aware of are things like Aor's vegan Omega 3s -- but it's a plant source.

http://www.aor.ca/ht...ucts.php?id=227

It uses algae and shikonin oil, going the SDA route in order for the body to produce EPA. You'd have to do your own research there as if it's better or not than ALA (I never looked into it). Being an AOR product, I also expect it to be pricey.

Or there is krill oil, which might or might not cause an allergic reaction in someone who is allergic to fish. And it too is on the expensive side.

The V-pure product is an interesting one, but I assumed it had more EPA than it did. If not in stock and you wanted something immediately, you could look at other algae DHA products. They won't have EPA, but the 20mg or so in V-Pure isn't exactly a large dose anyway.

One thing I've wondered about regarding omega 3s from non-fish sources is, do the oxidation levels differ for EPA/DHA based on the source? That is, would DHA from plants theoretically oxidize at a lower rate compared to DHA from fish oil?

Pretty sure I read somewhere oxidation goes (from lowest to highest), something like ALA - EPA - DHA. Just not sure if the source matters.

Just to clarify: I never said I wanted Omega 3's; I said I wanted EPA and/or DHA source that is non-fish. When I said I did not want such things as flax oil, I meant that I did not want people to confuse my saying that I wanted EPA/DHA with saying that I wanted Omega 3's, and thus recommend something like flax which has omega 3's but not EPA or DHA.

I did look into kirll oil before I inquired here, but it is extraordinarily expensive to get even a decent dose every day from that stuff. But yes, there is always that. I just figured there may be better choices. That product you link to looks great, especially with the stearidonic acid, which is interesting.


What do you think of this. I found it after doing some more searching. It has 300 mg DHA per serving, and 75 servings per bottle.

What exactly is the issue with getting alpha linolenic acid from flax, chia, or hemp?

You do know that EPA and DHA are 2 out of the 3 omega 3s. So, you do want sources of omega 3s, just not ALA.

Edited by morganator, 10 November 2010 - 06:45 AM.

[Logan]

The link you posted was for OmegaZen. It's just another algae source of DHA, with no EPA, nothing special. There are plenty of algae sources of DHA out there, most or all of them being equal in quality, IMO. Some of them have gelatin capsules, which would not be acceptable for strict vegans.

[Charmion]

What exactly is the issue with getting alpha linolenic acid from flax, chia, or hemp?

You do know that EPA and DHA are 2 out of the 3 omega 3s. So, you do want sources of omega 3s, just not ALA.

No, no. I did not say I wanted just ALA. I never even mentioned ALA. I did not say I wanted Omega 3's in general. I said I wanted EPA and DHA or one or the other in particular (since they convert fairly easily into one another).

The link you posted was for OmegaZen. It's just another algae source of DHA, with no EPA, nothing special. There are plenty of algae sources of DHA out there, most or all of them being equal in quality, IMO. Some of them have gelatin capsules, which would not be acceptable for strict vegans.

Yeah, there doesn't seem to be many sources of vegetarian EPA out there that are reasonably priced. So I found this, which is the cheapest out of the DHA-only products (relatively speaking). It's about $8.5 a week if you take 900mg every day. Rotating it with fish oil should reduce the cost to a fair amount. I'm not concerned with vegetarianism or anything, so gelatin is fine.

[Logan]

This is another affordable DHA supplement..

http://www.google.co...TRjVZ1Q&cad=rja


Hmm, 300 mg per serving and 75 servings with Omega Zen at $28 and 200 mg per serving and 60 servings with Spectrum Prenatal DHA at around $15, you do the math, I'm too tired Whichever one you get, you may be better off buying either of these at your local health food or vitamin store with the shipping costs you will being paying. At the organic market I work at, the price of both products is comparable or cheaper to the prices they are offering these products for on the internet.

Edited by morganator, 11 November 2010 - 02:26 AM.

[Charmion]

This is another affordable DHA supplement..

http://www.google.co...TRjVZ1Q&cad=rja


Hmm, 300 mg per serving and 75 servings with Omega Zen at $28 and 200 mg per serving and 60 servings with Spectrum Prenatal DHA at around $15, you do the math, I'm too tired Whichever one you get, you may be better off buying either of these at your local health food or vitamin store with the shipping costs you will being paying. At the organic market I work at, the price of both products is comparable or cheaper to the prices they are offering these products for on the internet.

Ah! Well apparently for this RawGuru place shipping is free. So that's $28 total for the bottle, being $7.87 per week for using 900mg on a daily basis. The site you posted has a standard shipping of $6.95, making the total for one bottle $21.56, for two bottles $36.17 for two, and three $50.78. The weekly cost of taking only 800mg of DHA from these daily would then be $10.06, $8.44, and $7.90 respectively. The former is a better deal. I think I'll buy it!

[Logan]

This is another affordable DHA supplement..

http://www.google.co...TRjVZ1Q&cad=rja


Hmm, 300 mg per serving and 75 servings with Omega Zen at $28 and 200 mg per serving and 60 servings with Spectrum Prenatal DHA at around $15, you do the math, I'm too tired Whichever one you get, you may be better off buying either of these at your local health food or vitamin store with the shipping costs you will being paying. At the organic market I work at, the price of both products is comparable or cheaper to the prices they are offering these products for on the internet.

Ah! Well apparently for this RawGuru place shipping is free. So that's $28 total for the bottle, being $7.87 per week for using 900mg on a daily basis. The site you posted has a standard shipping of $6.95, making the total for one bottle $21.56, for two bottles $36.17 for two, and three $50.78. The weekly cost of taking only 800mg of DHA from these daily would then be $10.06, $8.44, and $7.90 respectively. The former is a better deal. I think I'll buy it!

I wasn't saying that the Spectrum Prenatal DHA was cheaper, I was saying, "You do the math", because I was too tired to mess with it.

Do you live anywhere near a health food or vitamin store? Usually the internet offers better deals, but with these two products this does not seem to be the case. At the store I work at in Alexandria, Va, both of these products are cheaper than than what they are being offered for on the internet. I would check your local stores first.

[Logan]

This is another affordable DHA supplement..

http://www.google.co...TRjVZ1Q&cad=rja


Hmm, 300 mg per serving and 75 servings with Omega Zen at $28 and 200 mg per serving and 60 servings with Spectrum Prenatal DHA at around $15, you do the math, I'm too tired Whichever one you get, you may be better off buying either of these at your local health food or vitamin store with the shipping costs you will being paying. At the organic market I work at, the price of both products is comparable or cheaper to the prices they are offering these products for on the internet.

Ah! Well apparently for this RawGuru place shipping is free. So that's $28 total for the bottle, being $7.87 per week for using 900mg on a daily basis. The site you posted has a standard shipping of $6.95, making the total for one bottle $21.56, for two bottles $36.17 for two, and three $50.78. The weekly cost of taking only 800mg of DHA from these daily would then be $10.06, $8.44, and $7.90 respectively. The former is a better deal. I think I'll buy it!

I wasn't saying that the Spectrum Prenatal DHA was cheaper, I was saying, "You do the math", because I was too tired to mess with it.

Do you live anywhere near a health food or vitamin store? Usually the internet offers better deals, but with these two products this does not seem to be the case. At the store I work at in Alexandria, Va, both of these products are cheaper than than what they are being offered for on the internet. I would check your local stores first.

[Logan]

Looks to me like RawGhuru might charge for shipping. It isn't calculated when you enter your zipcode, but show a UPS ground charge of $8.93. Maybe they don't charge for shipping, maybe they do. I would examine this a little more closely.

[Charmion]

$9.21 FOR SHIPPING?!! Liars! Cheats! Swindlers!

Edited by lohengrin, 13 November 2010 - 03:36 AM.