page_title: Vegan nutrition
section_title: Omega-3 fatty acids
hierarchical_section_title: Vegan nutrition / Nutritional deficiencies / Omega-3 fatty acids
caption_attribution_description: English: Two Juglans regia walnuts. Deutsch: Zwei Juglans regia Walnüsse
context_page_description: Vegan nutrition refers to the nutritional and human health aspects of vegan diets. A well-planned, balanced vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of human life. Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals; and lower in dietary energy, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B₁₂. Preliminary evidence from epidemiological research indicates that a vegan diet may lower the risk of cancer.
context_section_description: Major vegan sources of the essential omega-3 fatty acid ALA include walnuts, flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, canola (rapeseed) oil, algae oil, hempseeds and hempseed oil, olive oil, and avocado.
  Diets without seafood are lower in non-essential long-chain omega-3 fatty acids like DHA and EPA. Short-term supplemental ALA has been shown to increase EPA levels, but not DHA levels, suggesting limited conversion of the intermediary EPA to DHA. DHA supplements derived from DHA-rich microalgae are available, and the human body can also convert DHA to EPA. Although omega-3 has previously been thought useful for helping alleviate dementia, as of 2016, there is no good evidence of effectiveness.
  While there is little evidence of adverse health or cognitive effects due to DHA deficiency in adult vegetarians or vegans, fetal and breast milk levels remain a concern. EPA and DHA supplementation has been shown to reduce platelet aggregation in vegetarians, but a direct link to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, which is already lower for vegetarians, has yet to be determined.
caption: Walnuts are another rich source of ALA, the precursor to DHA and EPA, the omega-3 oils
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