What does lipid peroxidation do to the omega-3 fatty acid molecule?
The global omega-3 market is a billion dollar industry that was valued at US$2.49 billion in 2019. We hear of the many different studies that either provide purported benefits or show that there aren’t any useful benefits to consuming omega-3 supplements. Therefore, we can be pretty much on the fence arguing about whether omega-3 supplements are useful, or if they aren’t. Or if eating deep sea fatty fish is good, or if it isn’t. There is just too much conflicting information out there, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, one cannot pinpoint the efficacy of an omega-3 product that easily. Many other unseen factors come into play at the manufacturing stage, which does cause problems at the consumer level.
But let’s look at what the omega-3 fatty acid is all about first, so that we can understand it better from a health and a science perspective.
First, the chemistry
The omega-3 fatty acid is so named because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond (denoted as C=C) on the third carbon atom away from the terminal carbon atom. It is an unsaturated fatty acid that can form bonds with additional atoms/molecules to lose the double bond. If there were no double bonds in the fatty acid molecule, it cannot form new bonds and we call it saturated.
And that’s why we have that distinction between saturated and unsaturated fats — do they contain any C=C double bonds or not? Coconut oil, for instance, is a saturated fat that does not contain any C=C double bonds.
There are 3 major types of omega-3 fatty acids that are supposedly beneficial to human health, which include alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA).
DHA and EPA, for example, are essential components of cell membranes. This is more so for DHA, especially in the central nervous system. It is therefore recommended to include more DHA in a baby’s diet to help their brains to develop better.
EPA and DHA are potent anti-inflammatory mediators that work on decreasing the intensity of the immune system’s inflammation response by signalling cells to downregulate their pro-inflammatory pathway (nuclear factor kappa B, or NF-κB). NF-κB is a major cellular pathway that expresses genes to stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and contribute to the development of an inflammation signal in our body.
While ALA is also an omega-3 fatty acid, we do have to note that the conversion rates of ALA into EPA and DHA in the body are at paltry low levels of less than 10%.
ALA is more useful for vegetarians/vegans who do not wish to consume fish or fish-related products, whereas EPA and DHA can be found in fatty fish.
Of course, if one isn’t obtaining enough omega-3 fatty acids from their diet, then supplementation might be necessary.
If supplementation were necessary, though, then what goes on during the unseen manufacturing process for each individual supplement product?
Second, the manufacturing process
We do have to understand that the final capsule product is not what originally came out of the fish. The fish have to be killed, their oil extracted and purified, and finally stored in different capsules that can be packaged and marketed.
As such, all these portions of the manufacturing process are crucial.
Earlier, I have mentioned that omega-3s were unsaturated fatty acids that can form bonds with other atoms. As a result, they are highly prone to oxidation, especially when in contact with oxygen. A proper storage of the purified oil is key!
Otherwise, oxidation turns them rancid, which gives them an off flavour and will be one of the things that a consumer first notices. Oxidised omega-3s undergo lipid peroxidation, and the products from lipid peroxides aren’t good for health at all.
Two research articles compared the oxidation in omega-3 products within New Zealand. The first article, by Albert et. al., puts forth a highly polemic observation in its title: Fish oil supplements in New Zealand are highly oxidised and do not meet label content of n-3 (omega-3) PUFA. In that article, they claimed that only 3 out of the 32 products that they tested exhibited label accuracy (what you see in the bottle is what you get in the capsule), and there were also high degrees of oxidation.
The second article by Bannenberg et. al. expanded on that work of the first article by Albert et. al. and encompassed 47 different omega-3 products. They mentioned that:
of the 47 products tested for EPA/DHA content, only four products failed to meet their label claims when fatty acid content was expressed properly. This low non-compliance rate of 9% stands in stark contrast to the failure rate of 91% reported by Albert et. al.
Suggesting, perhaps, that Albert et. al. did not use accurate expressions for the fatty acid content.
In any case, though, there are still products out there that do not meet label accuracy with regards to how much EPA/DHA content they actually do have. There’s always a chance that the consumer isn’t getting the value of what they’re paying for.
Another study by Halvorsen and Blomhoff in Norway investigated Norwegian fish oil products for their omega-3 and oxidation content, and they had this to say about lipid peroxidation:
Primary oxidation products, hydroperoxides, are formed through different chemical mechanisms. The hydroperoxides will further break down into secondary oxidation products (aldehydes, ketones, alkenals etc). Several of them possess toxic properties. Eventually, tertiary oxidation products (short chain free fatty acids) may be formed. These oxidation reactions may be accelerated by the presence of metals and by exposure to heat and light. The fish oil supplements tested contained different levels of hydroperoxides and alkenals. These differences could be due to several factors such as processing of the fish and production of fish oil, storage, the antioxidants added, and the presence of metals and light.
One of the key markers that they measured was the presence of highly reactive 4-hydroxy-2-alkenals. One of the major alkenals in this group of alkenals is 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), which is a “bioactive marker of pathophysiological processes”, as it has been described to be:
a reliable marker of oxidative stress, a possible causative agent of several diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease), growth modulating factor and a signaling molecule.
Lipid peroxides are used as biomarkers for gauging the severity of heart disease and dementia risk. People with higher readings of lipid peroxides (because EPA and DHA are found in cell membranes, right?) are at higher risk of developing dementia if they already do have existing heart disease conditions — the body is, after all, oxidising all these unsaturated fatty acids in the cell membranes!
This oxidation can occur as molecular oxygen at the cell mitochondria get oxidised by wayward electrons to form superoxide radicals, and that is occurring as a result of the cell needing to produce energy for itself. In other words, it’s an everyday process. A buildup of these superoxide radicals can lead into this situation known as oxidative stress.
In Now Seriously, What’s So Tricky About Cholesterol?, which is something that dives deeper into the development of cardiovascular disease, I highlight how oxidative stress can kickstart the entire cascade of events leading up to a clogged artery.
Therefore, Brain Degeneration Ain’t All That It’s Cracked Up To Be, either. We can pinpoint oxidative stress as the precursor to the biochemical signalling cascade that slowly causes degeneration of the cell function in the body, and as the brain comprises 86 billion neuron cells that are used in storing and processing information, the degeneration of these cells would be inevitable for some people, leading further into issues such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s in due time.
As it is said in this article:
Inflammation represents the main driving force in the progression of a large majority of human chronic diseases, as well as aging. The data available strongly suggest that 4-HNE is a key molecule in inflammation-related cell signaling, suggesting the involvement of 4-HNE in human pathologies.
It would perhaps be the cruelest irony to be consuming an omega-3 supplement in the belief that it is anti-inflammatory in nature, only for its lipid peroxidation products to contribute to the exact opposite effect that it was intended for.
However, as long as marketing advertisements can convince people of the health benefits in consuming an omega-3 product, not many people would think of the impurities or the label inaccuracies in that specific product, would they?
After all, isn’t human health or healthcare strongly dictated by economic gain these days? (The Implicit Manipulations Of Science By Human Greed)
We do need to be mindful of how well a product is being manufactured
However, we don’t usually pay close attention to the manufacturing process of a product. We’re more inclined to purchase things off shelves without wondering how they were made, aren’t we?
And that’s how consumers cannot fully comprehend the lives of underpaid workers in Nike sweatshops even as they purchase their expensive Nike sneakers, isn’t it?
In the same vein, we may be purchasing products that do not meet the specifications that are stated on their labels, and that can be a scary thought indeed.
If we do want to look for brands that actually do adhere to label accuracy, we’d have to consider the criteria that I have laid out here: Dietary Supplements — How Does One Choose a Good Brand for Consumption?
It is a challenge to find product brands that actually do voluntarily adhere to production standards reserved for the pharmaceutical industry. But if they do, the certainty of finding a good quality product is much stronger — do check this article out for more information.
I do use a brand that does claim to manufacture its products according to those pharmaceutical standards — do feel free to check it out the product here!
A shameless plug for an affiliate link is included here for adults, and another link is included here for children.
Do feel free to check out the original Medium article here!