“The tissue is the issue” say omega-3 academics

“The tissue is the issue,”​ said Captain Joseph Hibbeln from the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in a presentation to an omega-3 congress in Bruges, Belgium last week, referring to ability of omega-3 forms like DHA, EPA and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) to be utilised by the body if omega-6 (linoleic Acid) consumption is high.

“Dietary requirements for EPA ​(eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA ​(docosahexaenoic acid) increase by 13-fold with high background intakes of LA,” ​Captain Hibbeln said.

That finding informed a consensus document issued by those in attendance at the meeting Bruges that stated:​“​Tissue concentrations of LC-Omega-3 (relative to LC-Omega-6) are the key variable for health – not dietary intakes.”​

Preliminary coverage of the consensus can be found here.​​

Omega-3 index 11, intake 1000mg​

Hibbeln and other scientists at the event including veteran omega-3 researcher Professor Michael Crawford,​Dr Clemens von Schacky from the Medical University in Munich, Germany, and Dr Alex Richardson, the founder of UK charity, Food and Behaviour Research, concurred that 1000mg EPA/DHA daily intakes were a level that would bring omega-3 ‘in the tissue’ levels in line with those in Japan, which were seen as some of the highest in the world.

This equates to an omega-3 index of about 11 (a measure developed by Professor von Schacky that he and others are arguing is a better biomarker for coronary heart disease than, say, cholesterol levels).

The conference heard about sustainability efforts to manage krill, fish and other omega-3 sources and was told how rising heart and cognitive problem costs was driving the need to increase omega-3 levels in diets.

“Associated costs are currently bankrupting health care systems and threatening wider economic instability worldwide,”​ they stated.