Simply put, “fats like fats,” explains vitamin scientist Ashley Jordan Ferira, Ph.D., RDN. “Consuming fat-soluble nutrients (i.e., a lipid) with other lipids is most beneficial for all fatty things,” she provides.
This is as a result of lipids play the vital position of transporting vitamins and aiding of their absorption within the intestine and in cells all through our physique—together with dietary fat like omega-3 fatty acids. As it seems, lipids typically even require the help of different lipids to optimize their bioavailability.
This is the case with sure types of omega-3s present in fish oil (i.e., ethyl esters and free fatty acids) generally utilized by some complement manufacturers. In these formulation, with no high-fat meal, the marine omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA merely gained’t be readily absorbed and enter the broader physique for the cardiovascular or central nervous methods to make the most of.
“Ethyl ester fish oil products on the market are fine options, but their bioavailability is simply lower. These forms of fish oil taken without a fat (e.g., while fasting) is a lose-lose situation,” says Ferira. “You might as well flush them down the toilet!”
Ferira goes onto clarify: “Specifically, ethyl esters are inferior to triglycerides when not consumed with a fat-containing meal. Ethyl esters are missing the glycerol backbone component of triglycerides, so they have to ‘steal’ glycerol backbone from fats in your diet or in circulation.”
For optimum bioavailability (aka, a sound funding) there’s one type of omega-3s that’s certain to be available for the physique to make use of: Their triglyceride type.
In case you had been questioning, mbg’s omega-3 efficiency+ has you lined right here.