Omega-3 and fish

What foods are high in omega-3?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 202615 sources

Oily fish have the most of the omega-3 that fish oil capsules sell, EPA and DHA. Farmed salmon and herring have about 1.7 to 1.8 g in 3 ounces, Atlantic mackerel about 1.0 g, and sardines and trout about 0.7 to 0.8 g. The plant kind, ALA, comes from chia seeds, walnuts, ground flaxseed and canola oil. If you want to and you can, food covers both, and a capsule is the backup.

The supplement aisle makes omega-3 look like something you buy in a bottle, with a big “1,000 mg” on the front. But the US advice is food. The FDA says to eat at least 8 ounces of seafood a week, and the fish you pick decides most of what you get.

What we’d do: two servings of oily fish a week, like salmon, sardines, trout, herring or mackerel. Add walnuts, chia or ground flax on days you like them. Keep a capsule for when fish isn’t possible for you, and read the back of the label when you buy one.

The fish

8 ounces a week is the FDA’s number, and here’s what it comes to a day for each fish, from the USDA’s values.

Salmon and herring give you about 650 to 700 mg a day at 8 ounces a week. Sardines and trout give you about 300. Canned light tuna and cod give you less than 100, and shrimp almost none, even though all of them are on the FDA’s lowest-mercury list. Canned sardines, herring and mackerel keep in the pantry, which makes the twice-a-week habit easier.

A regular large egg has about 20 mg of EPA and DHA, about a hundredth of what’s in a 3 oz piece of farmed salmon.

The plants

The plant omega-3, ALA, is easy to get. The US Adequate Intake is 1.1 g a day for women and 1.6 g for men.

One handful of walnuts covers a man’s ALA for the day, and a tablespoon of ground flax a woman’s. How vegans get omega-3 has more plant sources.

ALA isn’t the same as EPA and DHA

Your body can turn some ALA into EPA and DHA, but not much. In a tracer study of young women given ALA, about 21% became EPA and 9% DHA, and the conversion is lower in men. That’s why the tools on this site count ALA on its own line and never add it to EPA and DHA. If you don’t eat fish, algae oil has EPA and DHA directly, the same molecules fish get from the algae they eat.

Why food comes before the capsule

In the VITAL trial, 25,871 US adults took 1 g of fish oil or a placebo every day for about five years, and major heart events came out about even, 386 against 419. Fish brings protein along with the omega-3, and it takes the place of other foods on your plate. Fish oil capsules protect your heart has the trials, and the fish oil label check shows what a capsule really holds if you take one. The counter below adds up your own week.