Essential fatty acids better from fish sources.
It is easier for your body to use the essential fatty acids from fish than flax seed. The essential fatty acid in both of these sources is the omega 3 family. Here’s why.
The basic chemical this family of oils starts as in flax seed meal is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). When we eat it, our bodies convert ALA first into two chemical intermediaries called EPA and DHA and finally into a hormone like chemical called prostaglandin type 3. The process can be done but it isn’t apparently efficient and uses lots of other nutrients to make things happen. Now fish eat plankton and start converting ALA into EPA and DHA. Therefore when we eat oily fish, we are getting an already partly processed omega 3 fatty acid and all our bodies have to do is the last bit of the conversion.
As you will appreciate this is easier than converting the whole lot. So why do people still supplement their diets with flax seed? Well some people don’t like the taste of fish and others are vegetarian etc etc. Eating flax seed is still fine but it seems you need to consume a lot more than if you ate fish to get enough of the needed end product (the prostaglandin) at the end.