Should I supplement with flax oil or fish oil?

There are certain fats that our bodies need to carry out many functions; unfortunately, our bodies cannot manufacture these fats from scratch and so we must obtain these fats from our diet. These fats are essential for good health hence “essential fatty acids” or “EFAs” for short.
The EFAs are divided into two categories, the Omega-6 EFAs and the Omega-3 EFAs. Both of these classes of EFAs are very important; however, our typical North American diet already includes plenty of Omega-6 EFAs, therefore, more emphasis is placed on obtaining EFAs from the Omega-3 category.

The image below is the Omega-3 pathway.

As you can see, flaxseed oil is rich in Alpha-Linolenic Acid, which must undergo several conversions before ultimately becoming EPA/DHA. However, humans are not great at making these conversions, so we end up with very little EPA/DHA.

The EPA & DHA are the most useful EFAs in the body- wouldn’t it be amazing if we could obtain the EPA/DHA directly, without having make all these conversions? We can!

Fish oils supply us with EPA & DHA directly, without any additional steps. Please consult with your Naturopathic Doctor before supplementing with fish oils for proper dosage recommendations.


Yours in health,

Dr. Michael Morsillo, B.Sc., N.D.
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine

Nature's Emporium
16655 Yonge St.
Newmarket, ON
905-898-1844
www.drmorsillo.com