Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Vegans have lower serum levels of EPA and DHA but maintain higher-than-expected EPA proportions due to the conversion of linolenic acid (LNA) from plant oils like rapeseed oil.
As a vegan, your EPA and DHA levels will likely be lower than those who eat fish. However, if you consume plant oils rich in alpha-linolenic acid (like rapeseed or flaxseed oil), your body converts some of this into EPA. This means your EPA levels may be higher than expected for a vegan, even without fish oil supplements.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
The proportions of EPA (p<0.001) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (p<0.001) were clearly lower in the vegans’ serum than in that of the non-vegetarians; however, the groups did not differ with regard to docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) (22:5 n-3). ... the observed proportion of EPA in the vegans was still higher than expected. These results support the view that linolenic acid (LNA) is converted to EPA in humans.
Why this rating
Objective measurement of fatty acid profiles.
Source
Food and Nutrient Intake and Nutritional Status of Finnish Vegans and Non-Vegetarians
Anna‐Liisa Elorinne et al. · PLoS ONE · 2016
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0148235
cross_sectional · n=41Cited 280×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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