I got my ALAs wrong, yes. Sorry about that.

I've had a talk with my naturopath and I've reviewed the archives on some of the nutrition/heaing lists I belong to. I'd like to present what the facts are, according to these sources and what I have generally learned over the past few years. My naturopath has been in practice for many years and she uses diet, supplements, and other forms of alternative medicine to heal some very ill people. I know she knows her stuff. This may not mean much to people here but I would just ask you to consider what I'm saying and try to weigh everything up before you make up your mind about what supplements are best.

You can't pick and choose, ALA or DHA/EPA. The body needs all of these things. EPA and DHA are in especially short supply in modern diets, and this problem is exacerbated by the n-3/n-6 ratio in the typical Western diet. It ought to be 1:4 to 1:1 but is often as much as 1:10 or even 1:20.

These compounds are important not only for cardiovascular health, but for the health and structure of the whole body, including the brain. They don't just target a certain set of symptoms or a certain system in the body. I have never personally noticed a huge difference in taking fish oil. It didn't give me a "wow" factor, it didn't lift my depression. Most supplements don't work that way unless there was a big deficiency to begin with. Everything works in concert to keep our bodies working they way they should, and to keep us healthy. I know that if I take fish oil I am far less likely to suffer conditions like heart disease or alzheimer's further down the road.

Flax oil is high in n-6. The ratio in it is 6:1 n-6 to n-3. You cannot therefore say that flax oil is beneficial if you keep your n-6 intake low, you cannot keep it as low as it needs to be if you are taking the flax oil regularly.

When ALA is ingested, about 5% of it is converted to EPA. Less than 2% is converted to DHA. People who say it doesn't matter, especially about the DHA, honestly don't know what they are talking about. As I stated above, these compounds are necessary to the body. Humans have been eating fish and seafood for a very long time, getting their EPA and DHA that way, and they are usually present in a 1:1 ratio in these foods. Nowadays, manufacturers of many supplements tinker with these amounts, making various claims for their efficacy. But no one knows better than nature.

How did Rudin get the results he did in his study? There is very little info on the internet about him or his book and I cannot find the details to study. However, I do know that there have literally been hundreds of other studies done which show that the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA is inefficient for everyone. I would have to ask why this study of 20-odd years ago is the exception. Was it a fluke? Were there special conditions? You could of course choose to go with what this study says if you were keen to justify the use of flax oil over fish oil in your mind, after all fish oil isn't cheap and it isn't vegetarian, but you'd be ignoring a lot of other sources of information out there.

Carlson's fish oil is one of the purest available. I would also trust Dr. Mercola's recommendation of the krill oil. I would not buy a cheaper supplement off the shelf because I would be concerned about its purity, its EPA/DHA balances, etc. If you are concerned about the capsules then take the oil. The manufacturers of these particular products are aware of concern about heavy metals and if you research them you will find that they take care to make sure there is very little contamination in their stocks.

My own recommendation would be to take fish oil. Flax oil as well if you like, though I would stay away from it purely because of the overabundance of omega-6 in it. Sometimes, in order to be therapeutic in healing, it's necessary to take larger amounts of fish oil than a person would be able to ingest just from eating fish. It truly is wonderful stuff.

Linda.