Developments in the EPA & DHA Space

By Ellen Schutt, Managing Director, Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED)

Ellen Schutt, Managing Director, Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED) 

  Back in 2013, GOED nominated EPA and DHA for a DRI review to the U.S. and Canadian governments. In 2014, the governments of both countries announced that EPA and DHA were selected as top priorities, “based on public health and/or policy importance.”  Yet, 10 years later, no progress has been made on this review. 

  Early last year, the Joint U.S.-Canadian DRI Working Group commissioned a multi-year review of the different macronutrients, and a fat review would logically include EPA and DHA. Then in November 2024, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which is contracted by various government agencies to conduct systematic reviews on relevant topics, issued three separate requests for scientific information relevant to the impact of EPA and DHA intake on human health, including one on PUFAs effects on child growth and development and a second on cardiovascular outcomes. This information will inform a series of systematic reviews which could be used during a DRI review.

  While this is positive news, GOED still does not know if the review has been properly funded within the respective governments, and given the upcoming change in the U.S. administration, there are still doubts about the likelihood of a review commencing in the near future.

Read insights from AHPA, CRN, CHPA, Organic & Natural Health Association, INFRA, SENPA, WIN, U.S. Hemp Roundtable, ITC + GPA, and MAHO.