water4life's EPA DHA microalgae suppliment

Has anyone any experiece with this?

I ordered the 3 for the price of 2 deal and plan to incorporate them with the Vega DHA That I have been taking.

Am I the guinea pig on this one?

Hope this reference doesn't offend anyone.

http://www.water4.net/

Hi Joe,

My husband and I take them every day. The current 3-for-2 price is the best deal out there. If you want to make the most of your intake then try getting your dietary omega 6 to omega 3 ratio down to a maximum of 4:1. Studies done with EPA/DHA supplementation show the best results when dietary ratios are also controlled in a healthy range.

If you want to make the most of your intake then try getting your dietary omega 6 to omega 3 ratio down to a maximum of 4:1.

For folks who don't know what that actually translates to in daily life it means:

- minimizing fried foods ( chips etc )

- minimizing store bought baked goods

- minimizing your use of oil. When you use oil use canola or olive

- being moderate with your fat intake( capping it at 20% of your calories )

what is the function of this suppliment. Does a vegan with a varied diet need to take it? I have been looking into a few things lately and i am glad i came across this post

I wish this could be a simple topic but it's not. If you are someone who can/will read for your health then there are some books (I'll post them in a bit) that will explain this in more detail. It is an extremely important topic, IMO, and vegans fare much worse than omnis when it comes to a healthy omega fatty acid profile.

It cannot be as simplified as watch your oils. For instance, tonight I'm having pasta with tempeh, chick peas and dandelion greens - all of the fats in those foods (though low in overall fat) are very high in omega 6 fatty acids but low in omega 3s.

There are some other threads that delve into this topic in further detail. I don't like saying this, but it takes some diligence to research this topic and track your intake. I already track my food intake (for bodybuilding purposes) so it's easy enough to track my essential fatty acid ratio. I use nutritiondata.com, take the supplements and restrict my added oils to olive oil, canola oil and flax oil.

The real purpose of taking these supplements is to give vegans the same health benefits that omnis get from the healthy fats in fish and human breast milk (for babies). Taking these supplements gives vegans the long chain form of omega fatty acids NOT found in plants (other than marine algae) - DHA and EPA. In order to adequately transform the plant form of omega 3 fatty acid (ALA) to the needed EPA/DHA requires an optimal ratio of omega 6 to 3 and other conditions. Unfortunately, we don't know all of the optimal conditions for each individual, regardless of optimal ratios. Therefore, IMO, if you can afford the supplements then you may be helping yourself tremendously by taking them.

The following is copied from a prior post of mine. All 4 books mentioned are well worth a read, IMO:

"I'm so happy you're looking at your omega 3 intake. I have a few books you might be interested in reading.

1) Plant Based Nutrition and Health by Stephen Walsh, PhD; this one is more up to date than Becoming Vegan and covers topics in a different way. It's difficult to find in the US but Vegan Outreach carries it. Excellent book for vegan health.

2) The Ultimate Omega-3 Diet by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD; this was published in 2007 and gives great advice for omnis and vegans alike. It's not too difficult for those who are not nutritionally inclined and as the book above, there are summaries at the end of chapters.

3) The Queen of Fats; a few years old (before there was vegan EPA available) but it gives a fascinating look at how essental fatty acids were discovered. This one is more for the medical/nutritional/science geek, I admit - but written by a reporter so not too dry.

All three of the above books go into detail about how important the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio is, how vegans have the worst ratio of all and how to fix it. I've been vegan for 3 years and omega fatty acids have only been on my radar for the past 2 1/2. I think omega fatty acids are one of the most important nutritional topics we can be discussing, especially as vegans. I'm glad you are taking a supplement.

However, you may not be aware (as I was not until a short while ago) that a Swiss company is producing vegan DHA/EPA capsules. They beat out the other two companies that have been producing DHA only supplements for the past few years. The supplements don't cost much more than DHA only and are available at Pangea and another online vegan store (I don't remember which one). However, if you're interested, the company has a 3 for 2 special at this time. The website is www.water4.net

Take care!"

The following is copied from a prior post of mine. All 4 books mentioned are well worth a read, IMO:

 

"I'm so happy you're looking at your omega 3 intake. I have a few books you might be interested in reading.

 

1) Plant Based Nutrition and Health by Stephen Walsh, PhD; this one is more up to date than Becoming Vegan and covers topics in a different way. It's difficult to find in the US but Vegan Outreach carries it. Excellent book for vegan health.

 

2) The Ultimate Omega-3 Diet by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD; this was published in 2007 and gives great advice for omnis and vegans alike. It's not too difficult for those who are not nutritionally inclined and as the book above, there are summaries at the end of chapters.

 

3) The Queen of Fats; a few years old (before there was vegan EPA available) but it gives a fascinating look at how essental fatty acids were discovered. This one is more for the medical/nutritional/science geek, I admit - but written by a reporter so not too dry.

 

All three of the above books go into detail about how important the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio is, how vegans have the worst ratio of all and how to fix it. I've been vegan for 3 years and omega fatty acids have only been on my radar for the past 2 1/2. I think omega fatty acids are one of the most important nutritional topics we can be discussing, especially as vegans. I'm glad you are taking a supplement.

 

However, you may not be aware (as I was not until a short while ago) that a Swiss company is producing vegan DHA/EPA capsules. They beat out the other two companies that have been producing DHA only supplements for the past few years. The supplements don't cost much more than DHA only and are available at Pangea and another online vegan store (I don't remember which one). However, if you're interested, the company has a 3 for 2 special at this time. The website is www.water4.net

 

Take care!"

Thank you for your suggestions. Unfortunatly i cannot take advantage of that great deal until i do the required reading. Thanks for the list of books. I basically live in a library, so any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to PM me those or post here.

Thanks a billion.