Omega-3 Deficiency in Vegans and Surprising Long-Term Health Effects

Jack LaLanne, health and fitness guru of the 50’s and 60’s lived to 96 years old; was primarily vegetarian but ate fish and eggs but no meat or dairy.He was strong and mentally sharp until the day he died!

The problem is his personal mentors seem to have not taken B12 which may have been the problem: according to Fuhrman himself Dr Herbert Shelton had the lowest B12 level he had ever seen in a person when he was elderly; Dr Vivian Vetrano was against B12 supplementation and wrote entire articles saying it was wrong to supplement; Joy Gross on the other hand was very much involved with natural hygiene, raw foodism and fasting and her stance on B12 is unknown to me. Despite all this all three of his mentors basically reached their nineties: Shelton 89 years and a few months; Vetrano 91 years; and Gross almost 96 years.

Guess who sells omega 3 supplements to vegans...

I’ve been waiting for this. What a genius way to broach the topic!! Even at True North (where Dr. Fuhrman spent time) they told us to take our fish oil/algae oil.

I once read that cruciferous vegetables, melons, squash and pinto beans were significantly higher in omega threes than most veggies, save flax, walnuts and chia of course, those are insanely high in omega threes by comparison.

he talks about studies but mentions none. His entire case rests on anecdote. none of the promises of fish oil have ever panned out, not even the big so-called benefit on heart disease. A Cochrane review in 2019 found no benefit. 2 years later the most recent Cochrane review found an effect on heart disease but the effect size was tiny. I've seen this a lot with fish oil / omega-3. Huberman talks about one study that found a big effect on depression saying often on his podcast the effect was bigger than antidepressants, but a large meta analysis found zero effect.

I love that Fuhrman statement! "Nutritional gymnastics" LOL!! He's cracks me up lol.

Is there a test for how efficiently a person converts the ALA in flax, walnuts, chia, etc. (or some other way of determining this)? That seems very useful to know.

I prefer Geoff Palmers stance on on the omega fatty acid topic. Good information nonetheless

It was explained to me that 6 & 3 use the same pathways so cutting back on 6 means proper 3 conversion. Do people just not cut back enough?

I believe people really need to listen to this doctor. He knows what he’s taking about. 🙌

Look up Dr Tim Radak and his talk on should Vegans supplement with Omega 3. Best explanation I ever heard. Ever.

This is controversial as your body can convert other fatty acids to dha epa. The data is not as clear as he is presenting and he does sell the supplement.

The big problem today is the ratio between Omega 6 and Omega 3, which should ideally be 1 to 1, but a ratio of 4 to 1 is still said to be good. In the US the ratio is over 20 to 1 and many have a ratio of 50 to 1. The reason for this is all the seed oil that is now in almost all food which are high in Omega 6. Even eggs that used to be rich in Omega 3 now have an Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio of 15 to 1 due to chickens being fed Soy which is very high in Omega 6. Watch this lecture Dr. Chris Knobbe Are Vegetable Oils the primary driver of Obesity, Diabetes and Chronic Disease?

Wish he had talked about dosage

People harping on vegan ALA are missing the obvious fact that algae has long-chain n-3 fatty acids, which is where fish get it anyway. Sure, be vegan. And supplement with algea oil.

Omega 3 rich foods. Flax seeds, Chia seeds, walnuts, Edamame beans, soya bean products, fresh haricot beans, kidney beans, wheat germ, nori etc etc s well as oily fish. A whole food plant based vegan diet is well supplied with omega 3 A standard western diet, meat dairy, sugary products, bread based products and ultra processed foods is very likely to be limited to omega 3 from fortified foods such as spreads. I think the target audience for this video is misdirected.

At 54 I have no desire to outlive my mind and body. At some point we must embrace all that comes with old age.

I love this man his intelligence and his passion is amazing thank you for informing us this! ❤

some vegetables contain omega-3 fatty acids, especially green leafy vegetables. These vegetables contain ALA, one form of omega-3, but it's not as potent as DHA and EPA, which are found in fish. The body can convert a small amount of ALA into DHA and EPA, but not very well.