GOED debunks top three consumer myths around omega 3s
13 Oct 2021 | GOED
The Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega 3s (GOED) shares some of the top misunderstandings surrounding fish oil and omega 3s. Concerns around contaminants and environmental sustainability are unwarranted, asserts Ellen Schutt, executive director at the non-profit. She also reveals a gap in perception of sufficient intake.
This is Missy Green at Vita Foods 2021.
I'm here with Ellen Shutt from GED, and she's gonna tell us the three biggest myths about omega 3s.
I think if you're a supplement company and you're thinking about what you need to understand about omega 3 oils, one of the biggest myths, I think, is that there's issues with mercury or heavy metals in EPA and DHA.
And the fact is when omega 3s go through the refining process, that the heavy metals and contaminants are removed from the oils, and this should be in any CA.
You're receiving from a supplier, you should be able to see this, but I think it's something that that doesn't get to the consumer always, and it would be good if as a supplement company, that's something that gets communicated that that contaminants are really not an issue in EPA and DHA supplements.
So really no omega 3 oil coming from fish, algae, krill should have any heavy metals in it.
We'll never say never.
We'll.
I say none because there's always, it's below, I think that that the terminology is below detectable levels.
So that's, you know, we want to, we want to be a responsible organization when we're, we're never going to say that there's none, but it really is something that gets removed as part of the processing of a typical omega 3 oil.
It's different from just eating fish.
It is, it is.
There's, you know, there's, there's certainly.
Fish that that you want to avoid because of mercury, and I think that's that's known from from species to species.
But we've also seen research that shows that the benefit of eating fish, this is, this is speaking specifically for pregnant women, the benefit of eating fish still outweighs the risk of mercury in terms of of increasing the IQ of your child.
So , there's science that has been done on that.
Of course it might be even better to just take omega threes, of course.
So what are the, what's the second myth?
The second myth is, I think, about overfishing or sustainability, and, and I don't want to say it's a myth because honestly, you know, our goal as GE is to increase consumption of EPA and DHA around the world, and we always say, if we are successful in getting everyone to take the amount of EPA and DHA that they're supposed to, there's not enough fish in the ocean.
So, so we acknowledge that this is.
A limited resource, but I think that that the myth is that the omega 3 fisheries are not fishing responsibly, and that's, that's really what I want to talk about.
If we talk about, for example, the anchovy oil, anchovy oil is the main oil that goes into dietary supplements, and the majority of it comes from the Peruvian anchovy fishery, and that particular fishery is.
Very monitored.
As a matter of fact, several times in the past several years they have closed the entire fishery for the season because they looked at the biomass of anchovy and said there's not enough for you to harvest a particular quota.
So, so they're very conscious of the fact that this needs to be a sustainable fishery for the long term.
So they're very careful at making sure that there's not too, they don't overfish.
So.
So that's just one example.
Algae companies, of course, are a sustainable alternative.
The krill Fishery is an MSC Marine Stewardship Council certified fishery in, in Antarctica.
So, so there's stories about each of the omega 3 fisheries that, that tell a positive story.
So it's just, it's a matter of, of being able to spend all the time I just spent to tell all the stories of the individual fisheries.
So what about, do people really need it?
This is I believe the 3rd myth that you want to speak about.
The, the, I said this is more of a consumer.
If you ask consumers why they don't take omega 3s, they say, oh, I, I get enough or I eat enough fish.
And our response is always, do you really, you, you know, if, if you ask somebody to do a food frequency survey questioning.
They're trying to do, keep track of their food intake, and they really look at, are you eating fish at least twice a week, and are you eating fatty fish?
The answer is not usually yes.
And, and we've also seen research that shows even 2 servings of fatty fish a week is not necessarily enough for every, every outcome that you're trying to.
Improve with omega 3s.
There, there's some heart health outcomes that you really want 2 or 3 g, which is a larger dose than you're going to get just eating 2 servings of fish a week.
So, so it really is, think about, are you really getting enough?
And an omega 3 supplement is something that's an easy to do, safe answer to make sure that you're really giving yourself all the health benefits.
Thank you so much, Ellen.
You're welcome.
Thanks for being here.
