Addressing the insufficient availability of EPA and DHA to meet current and future nutritional demands

Tocher and colleagues [1] have summarised the widening gap between the supply of EPA and DHA and the amounts required to achieve a healthy dietary intake [2–4]. A large global study identified the mean individual consumption of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) in adults to be 163 mg/day in 2010 [5]. The dietary recommendations for EPA and DHA range from 250 to 1000 mg/day for adults [6], but three billion people have an intake of <100 mg/day [5]. Dosages of 500 mg/person/day would require ~1.27 million tonnes/year of long-chain omega 3 fatty acids for a population of approximately seven billion in 2019, indicating a shortfall of 0.4–1.0 million tonnes/year [1]. Thus, identifying solutions to provide adequate supplies of these fatty acids is a current and future requirement.