A neuroscientist explains why standard DHA supplements mostly get stored in fat instead of reaching your brain. DHA bound to lysophosphatidylcholine crosses the blood-brain barrier far more effectively, making the form you choose critical for brain health.
If you care about your brain health, you need to understand these graphs. They show what happens when you supplement with omega-3 fat, in particular DHA, but in different forms. When you take standard DHA, most of it actually ends up in fat tissue, adipose tissue—that's the tall red bar—with relatively little reaching the brain. But when you supplement the same dose of a different form, a different carrier for DHA, lysophosphatidylcholine-bound DHA, the distribution shifts dramatically. This form of omega-3 DHA preferentially enters the brain instead of being stored in fat. Why? Because that carrier, the lysophosphatidylcholine, acts to help the fatty acid gain privilege to the brain via a special transporter. It's called MSFD2A. And this is why not all omega-3s are created equal. And as a neuroscientist by training myself, my PhD was in neuroscience, and as someone who is at high risk for Alzheimer's disease, these details matter deeply to me personally. And taking the wrong form of omega-3, it's like sending an email to the wrong email address. And who wants to send an email to their boss with a flirty note that was intended for their spouse?
