Absorption of Marine vs Non‐Marine sources of EPA and DHA

Abstract

DHA from algae oil has been incorporated into tissues at a lower level and been less effective than fish oil (FO) at reducing body fat. Our objective was to determine the fecal excretion of EPA and DHA from different sources. Male mice (n=100) were fed a 12% lipid diet with soy oil (SO), FO, yeast oil (YO, equal EPA to FO diet), algae oil (AO, equal DHA to FO diet), or AO+YO (equal EPA + DHA as FO diet). For 4 weeks fecal samples were collected over night once per week. There were no differences in feed intake, body weight, or body fat (P>;0.05). FO‐fed mice did have heavier livers (P<0.05). AO+YO‐fed mice had greater fecal DHA content than AO‐fed mice and FO‐fed mice for the first 3 weeks (P<0.05) and AO‐fed mice had greater (P<0.05) fecal DHA content than FO‐fed mice in weeks 2–4. FO‐fed mice had greater fecal EPA than YO‐fed mice and AO+YO‐fed mice on week one (P<0.05). FO‐fed mice and YO‐fed mice had greater fecal EPA on week 1 than weeks 2–4 (P<0.05). Thin layer chromatography was performed and verified that the oil sources were primarily composed of triglycerides. In conclusion DHA in FO appears to be more bioavailable than in AO.