Omega KIDS

Essential fatty acids are unsaturated fats that we cannot make; we must get them from food. They are necessary for cell membranes, the brain and nervous systems and for producing regulators of blood pressure, blood-clotting and immune and inflammatory responses. Omega 3 ALA acids are essential acids; they are not produced by the body and must be included in our diet. The Omega 3 family of fatty acids are converted, on demand and in the quantity required, into their derivative forms, EPA and then DHA. By providing Omega 3 ALA, LEENVIT delivers the essential ingredients to meet your EPA and DHA requirements as needed without risk of overdose.

Leenvit® is a concentrate of Omega 3 ALA acids – one teaspoon (4 ml) contains as much as 2000 mg of pure Omega 3 ALA. This fully meets the body’s daily demand for this acid, in accordance with the scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority – EFSA Journal (2009) 1176, 1 – 11.

When producing an oil concentrate for supplements, manufacturers can either use a process called “re-esterification” which involves the use of enzymes to reattach fatty acids to the glycerol backbone—the glycerol having been removed as the first step during the process of making an oil concentrate. Then, the fatty acids are reassembled into the natural triglyceride structure. The second option, is to react the fatty acids released from the glycerol backbone with ethanol, resulting in a fatty acid “ethyl-ester,” a form which does not naturally occur in the human diet. Leenvit® esters are protected from oxidation and stay in plasma for 24 hours, longer than fish oil or linseed oils where the plasma persistence time is about 3 hours.

All the world’s oceans are contaminated with toxic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and methyl mercury. These toxins accumulate, especially in fatty fish, as you move up the food chain and can cancel out any beneficial effects of omega-3s. Farmed fish are not the answer as they tend to contain less omega-3s and more toxins than wild fish. A comparison of farmed salmon and wild salmon found that the farmed fish had consistently higher levels of PCBs. You don’t have to eat neurotoxins and carcinogens to get your omega-3s. Plant foods can provide plenty to keep our hearts healthy and combat allergies and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. This benefits the environment as well as plant-based sources of omega-3s are sustainable, fish are not. Omega 3 acids found in fish oil are EPAs and DHAs forms (i.e. a processed form of the original version of ALA) and as such can be overdosed. They also affect blood clotting, so they should be taken with caution by people with certain diseases. The plant form of ALA is completely safe and cannot be overdosed.