Spilling secrets on omega supplements

Omegas are top selling supplement category globally. Omega-3 fatty acid is essential and not made in body. It supports heart health, is anti-inflammatory and crucial for brain. But, does it work?

👋 Hola! Welcome to Out of Singapore. This is Shan and I write every Sunday. Since June, I have taken a conscious call to write on the supplement industry. I am thinking how to balance business and industry. I may look at splitting the 4 weeks into marketing and industry topics.

Today I will be spilling secrets on omega supplements from my first hand interaction with a Professor at Duke NUS Medical School. Before I reveal the secret, let’s understand omegas a bit more. We will discuss -

1. What are omega supplements? Omega-3 and Omega-6

2. How do omega supplements help our body?

3. What’s wrong with existing omega-3 supplements?

4. What’s coming up?

Let’s start now

#1 What are omega supplements?

Omega supplements comprise of two types of omegas, omega-3 and omega-6. Of this omega-3 is the most widely sold supplement form. Our body cannot make omega-3 fatty acids. We can either eat fish or take supplements. Omega-6, on the other hand, is abundant in the modern diet and does not need supplementation.

Use GIF of omegas, since I could not find something better.

Here is an official and internet definitions of omega-3 and omega-6:

“Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are both essential polyunsaturated fats, meaning the body cannot produce them on its own and they must be obtained through diet or supplements.” - ChatGPT

Here's a bit more detail:

• Omega-3 fatty acids include ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). Among these, only ALA is essential because the body cannot produce it. The body can convert some ALA into EPA and DHA, but this conversion is limited and not very efficient.

• Omega-6 fatty acids include LA (Linoleic Acid) and AA (arachidonic acid). LA is the essential fatty acid in this category, as the body cannot produce it. The body can convert LA into other omega-6 fatty acids like AA.

#2 Health benefits of omega-3 and omega-6

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids serve important functions for the body. Let me take you through the list.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), are vital for several physiological processes:

1. Cardiovascular Health: Omega-3s help reduce inflammation, lower triglycerides, decrease blood clotting, and maintain a healthy heart rhythm.

2. Brain Function and Development: DHA is a critical component of cell membranes in the brain and is essential for cognitive function, memory, and overall brain health. Omega-3s are particularly important during pregnancy and early childhood for the development of the brain and eyes.

3. Inflammation and Joint Health: Omega-3s have anti-inflammatory properties that is beneficial for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

4. Mental Health: Omega-3s can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. They may have benefits for mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder and ADHD.

5. Eye Health: DHA is also a key component of the retina, and adequate levels of omega-3s may help prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision impairment and blindness.

Steal your fish for the omega-3 now.

Omega-6 Fatty Acids

Omega-6 fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid (LA), are also essential and play important roles in the body:

1. Cell Structure and Function: Omega-6 fatty acids are components of cell membranes and are involved in cell signaling and the proper functioning of cells.

2. Skin and Hair Health: Omega-6s, such as gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), help maintain healthy skin by promoting hydration and reducing inflammation and dryness. They are also important for hair health.

3. Growth and Development: Linoleic acid is essential for normal growth and development, particularly in children.

4. Reproductive Health: Omega-6 fatty acids are involved in the production of hormones and can support reproductive health.

Quick tip: Ideal EPA to DHA ratio

EPA and DHA perform different functions and the ratio of EPA to DHA is crucial. The ideal suggested ratio of EPA to DHA is 2:1. EPA is great for anti-inflammation and heart health while DHA is important for brain development and eye health.

We do NOT need omega-6 supplementation

Omega-6 fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid (LA), are commonly found in modern food. These include vegetable oils (corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and cottonseed oil), processed and packaged food made with oil and nuts and seeds.

Modern diets have an overabundance of omega-6. This causes an imbalance between the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid. This contributes to increased inflammation and a higher risk of heart disease, arthritis, and certain cancers.

The ideal ratio is often suggested to be around 4:1 or lower (omega-6 to omega-3). Our typical diet often has a ratio as high as 15:1 or more, heavily skewed toward omega-6. This would be true for most cuisines like Chinese, Malay or Indian. Mediterranean cuisine and Middle Eastern cuisine possibly have the lowest omega-6 concentration due to presence of Olive oil.

Omega-3 supplementation becomes crucial to balance this excessive intake of omega-6 in our daily diet. 💡

#3 Problem with omega-3 supplements

Let me remind you again - the benefits of omega-3 supplements is three fold

1. Heart Health - reduces triglycerides, lowers BP and lower stroke risk.

2. Anti-inflammatory - Beneficial for chronic inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

3. Brain health - Essential for cognitive function, and memory. Needed for brain development during pregnancy.

BUT BUT BUT the fatty acid responsible for brain development and health, DHA, found in omega-3 supplements cannot cross the blood brain barrier. It means all the existing omega-3 supplements are useless for brain health. If you are ageing and taking omega-3 to prevent brain degeneration, you are doing yourself a disservice.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a semi-permeable membrane that acts as a filter between the blood and the brain, allowing some substances to pass through while keeping others out.

Why omega-3 fatty acids, DHA, cannot cross blood brain barrier?

I will keep this as simple as possible - Transportation of omega-3 into the brain needs a carrier or a transporter. This transporter is called MFSD2a. This transporter only recognises LPC-omega-3 for entry into the brain. Right now, there are no products in the market that provide LPC-DHA.

Snippet taken from Dr. David Silver’s internal presentation

For details and if you are interested you can look at this paper for more details on MFSD2a.

While the current omega-3 supplements are okay for heart health and inflammatory benefits, they serve no purpose for brain health and cognition. This is because the DHA molecule provided by current supplements are not LPC-DHA.

#4 What’s coming up?

Now that you understand that existing omega-3 supplements are not useful for brain health, here is the news - We are soon launching LPC-DHA containing omega-3 supplement. This is going to be first in the market, first in the world. You must know that I am quite excited about it.

I will share more detail about this in upcoming write ups. If you have questions, please write to me.

That’s it for today!

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Today’s write-up was fairly technical. I purposefully remove the details of MFSD2A and LPC. It would be hard to digest in this write. I hope you have understood the importance of omega-3 supplementation and problems with current supplements.

Time has been flying by like a rocket ship. It’s already the end of August. We have had our best ever month in terms of sales. We are out of stock on all of our top sellers. I am trying to salvage some sales with pre-orders. However, we left significant demand on the table. I hope next month we should be able to catch up.

This week was also bad for my sleep. I have been avoiding K-dramas for few months now and finally decided to watch Lovely Runner. As with all K-dramas, it was a bad call for my sleep. I couldn’t resist and finished the whole series in 2 nights. Nothing to be proud of, since it killed my sleep and workout routine. This week should be better.

Who is cuter? Jisoo or the puppy? 😆

Send me your answers. haha. Wish you have a great week ahead! Don’t forget to get our omega-3 supplements when they launch. Cheers! 🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛