by Jack Norris, RD, LD
We’ve added two appendices to our article, Omega-3s Part 2: Research:
- Appendix A: Biomarkers of DHA Status
- Appendix B: Evolutionary Arguments for a Dietary Requirement for DHA
Without DHA supplementation, vegans have lower levels of DHA in their blood than fish eaters. Much of our article, Omega-3s Part 2: Research, is an attempt to assess whether there’s a clinical significance to these lower levels.
In Appendix A, we added a short section evaluating the citations for one paper in particular. The article Biomarkers of DHA status argues that the percentage of fatty acids as DHA in plasma or red blood cells is a generally adequate marker of overall DHA status. We show that the evidence they cite for this claim doesn’t adequately support it.
A number of researchers, and many more nutrition writers with an anti-vegan stance, have used evolutionary arguments to argue that DHA is an essential nutrient for human brain health.
In Appendix B, we address evolutionary arguments made in the published research claiming that DHA is an essential nutrient. We conclude that the evidence cited doesn’t justify the claim.
Appendix B: Evolutionary Arguments for a Dietary Requirement for DHA is too long to reproduce in this blog post, but I hope you’ll click through to read it. I’m interested to know what readers of this newsletter think. You can reply to this email or leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
Thank you!
