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| Flaxseed & flaxseed oil - good sources of omega- 3 |
If you're vegan, you're probably aware of the importance of essential fatty acids (EFA) in your diet. But if not, then the following information will be useful to know and put into practice.
Essential fatty acids can be saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. As a general guide, by observing whether a fatty acid is solid or liquid at room temperature can help you correctly identify an EFA type. For example, fats containing a high proportion of saturated fatty acids are usually solid at room temperature. These are known as saturated fats and derive mostly from animal sources (lard, butter etc). In contrast, plant fats are high in either polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats (except in the case of palm and coconut fat which are highly saturated - albeit, virgin cold pressed coconut oil is extremely beneficial for your health).
Both saturated and monounsaturated fats are made in the human body naturally, so supplementation through diet is not critical. However, there are two polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) that are only derived from diet (as they can't be produced entirely in the human body). These fatty acids are called linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. In this way, you must take extra care if you're vegan to ensure your diet contains these fatty acids daily as only selected food sources contain them.
Without these essential fatty acids, your body can not produce other PUFAs such as arachidonic acid, or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These are important for maintaining a healthy body and brain function. More specifically, they help maintain the integrity of cell membranes, create prostaglandins (which regulate inflammation and blood clotting), enable cholesterol metabolism, and provide fat for fat-soluble vitamins (i.e. vitamins A, D, E and K). As you can see, it's crucial to good health that vegans supplement their diet with good quality alpha-linolenic acid sources. This will enable the body to convert alpha-linolenic acid into EPA (eiocosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) - two vital nutrients for human development and health maintenance.
Although EPA and DHA is found in abundance in marine fish oil, they are not found in most vegan foods (apart from algae, sea vegetables and seaweed etc). However, there are great vegan sources now available. These sources have the added benefit of being free from heavy metals and other toxins that are found in marine fish oil as well as being a cruelty-free option. So, to ensure you're obtaining the optimum levels of essential fatty acids in your diet, it's good to supplement your plant sources of essential fatty acids with EPA/ DHA vegan supplements. You can find a great selection at Deva Nutrition.
To equip your body with a balanced essential fatty acid intake, try to minimize your linoleic acid intake (which is found abundantly in a typical vegan diet), for it can suppress the body's ability to convert alpha-linolenic acid to DHA (which is vital to optimal brain function). Therefore, vegans should be mindful to use less sunflower, safflower and corn oils and instead increase their intake of oils containing alpha-linolenic acid such as rapeseed (canola) oil, flaxseed oil, chia seeds and walnut oils. This encourages human tissues to make more DHA.
The good news is that a vegan diet is usually high in good fats. A vegan diet is also more likely to adhere to the standard health recommendation which stipulates a good diet should derive just 35% of their total calorie intake from fats and oils; whereas diets containing dairy, meat and egg products contain too much saturated fats that can contribute to high levels of cholesterol in the blood - a risk factor for atherosclerosis and heart disease. In contrast, polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) have the opposite effect, they optimize the body's function. For more information see The Vegan Society.
Sources of Linoleic Acid (Omega 6 family):
- vegetables
- fruits
- nuts
- grains
- seeds
- safflower oil
- sunflower oil
- evening primrose oil
- pumpkin oil
- wheatgerm oil.
- flaxseed (linseed)
- mustard seeds
- hemp seeds
- walnut oil
- green leafy vegetables
- grains
- spirulina
- hemp seed oil.
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