Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in health has increased, and the rate of taking dietary supplements in Korea is on the rise. As a result of a survey on the status of taking dietary supplements in the National Health and Nutrition Survey, the dose rate was 44.9% as of 2020, and has continuously increased over the past three years.
Dietary supplements can easily make up for deficient nutrients, but they can also be exposed to toxicity. Recently, MBN News reported that microplastics were detected in three omega-3 products distributed in the domestic market. Some products were detected up to four times the daily exposure announced by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
Experts warn that accumulation of microplastics in the body can be dangerous. According to the Korean Medical Association's "Microplastics' Threat to Human Health" column, very small microplastics will not decompose in the human body, but will move to blood, brain barriers, and lungs, which can directly affect cell damage or neurotoxicity risks.
Omega-3 fatty acids are not produced by themselves in the body and must be supplemented by food or product intake. Blue-backed fish is well known as a food with high omega-3 content. However, if you eat fish due to recent serious marine pollution, you are likely to consume pollutants such as heavy metals and microplastics in the sea. In particular, blue fish, which are the top predators, are more likely to be concentrated in pollutants due to bio-concentration.
So is there an omega-3 product that is completely free from microplastic issues? Pharmacist Kim Ji-young replied, "You can choose a product made of 100% vegetable."
Pharmacist Kim Ji-young cited safety and DHA content as advantages of vegetable omega 3. Heavy metals accumulate as they move up the food chain. Vegetable omega-3 is extracted from microalgae at the bottom of the ecosystem's food chain, and the risk of heavy metal contamination is very low.
Pharmacist Kim Ji-young recommended products certified by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) among plant-based omega-3 products. If you look closely at the raw materials of Omega 3 products, there are sometimes products with certification marks given by NASA. These are products using microalgae grown in a incubator completely blocked from the external environment using NASA-certified aseptic culture technology.
Vegetable omega-3 is not only free from microplastic issues, but also has the advantage of containing a lot of DHA. According to a survey of 20 omega-3 products with high consumer preference by the Korea Consumer Agency, animal products have a higher DHA ratio of 36-49% but vegetable products have a higher DHA ratio of 61-99%.
EPA and DHA in the body are in charge of vascular health and brain health, respectively, and "DHA is easily converted to EPA in the body if necessary, so it is important to supplement DHA more than EPA," explained pharmacist Kim Ji-young. In addition, plant-based omega-3 has the advantage of having a smaller risk of scattering compared to animals and having no fishy smell.
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)
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