A family of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The long-chain forms EPA and DHA come mainly from seafood and algae; the plant form ALA converts to them only inefficiently in humans.
14 foods, grouped by presence band. Bands are used instead of amounts because compound content swings widely with cultivar, soil, storage and preparation — a single number per food would look more precise than the measurements justify.
One of the compounds this food is characterised by in the literature.
Engraulis encrasicolus
Tiny oily fish usually sold salt-cured and packed in oil, where months of curing dissolves the flesh into an intensely savoury…
Scomber scombrus
A fast-swimming oily fish with dark, strongly flavoured flesh that spoils quickly and is therefore often smoked or canned. It is…
Salvia hispanica
Tiny seeds from a Mexican member of the mint family that form a thick gel when hydrated, because of soluble mucilage in the seed…
Salmo salar
The great majority of salmon sold worldwide, raised in sea pens on formulated feed. It is consistently fattier than wild salmon,…
Linum usitatissimum
The seed of the flax plant, sold whole, ground or pressed for oil, and the densest common dietary source of plant lignans. The…
Linum usitatissimum
Cold-pressed oil from flaxseed and the most concentrated common dietary source of the plant omega-3 ALA. Pressing leaves the…
Sardina pilchardus
Small schooling fish canned whole with their soft, edible bones intact. Being short-lived plankton feeders low in the food chain,…
Juglans regia
The wrinkled kernel of the walnut tree, unusual among common nuts for being dominated by polyunsaturated rather than…
Salmo salar
An anadromous fish that feeds at sea and returns to fresh water to spawn. Its pink flesh comes from astaxanthin accumulated…
Consistently reported in this food in amounts researchers treat as meaningful.
Katsuwonus pelamis
Almost always skipjack, a small fast-growing tuna, cooked and canned in water or oil. It is a distinctly different product from…
Cannabis sativa
The hulled seed of industrial hemp, a cannabis variety bred to contain negligible THC. The USDA reference entry is for the hulled…
Recorded in this food without a dependable quantity attached to it.
Gadus morhua
A large cold-water groundfish with lean, flaky white flesh that stores its oil in the liver rather than the muscle. That anatomy…
Mytilus edulis
Rope- or bottom-grown bivalves that need no feed input, making them one of the lowest-impact animal foods produced. They open…
Crassostrea virginica
Filter-feeding bivalve molluscs, farmed and wild-harvested, whose flavour tracks the water they grew in closely enough that…