The importance of EPA and DHA for athletes

Often, when an athlete comes to the office of a nutrition professional, he or she does so with a well-established body of knowledge and beliefs about the nutrients he or she needs to consume throughout the day. And, often, he or she takes these nutrients (and other substances as well) not only with food, but also in the form of dietary supplements.

Telling us this are statistics reported in the scientific literature showing that as many as 85 percent of elite athletes take at least one ergogenic supplement. "Athletes often resort to dietary supplements to increase their metabolic capacity, delay the onset of fatigue, improve muscle hypertrophy and shorten recovery time," Maria Alessandra Gammone and colleagues explain in the pages of Nutrients.

Surveys on the market of dietary supplements for sports confirm the interest in these products even among Italian athletes. According to research published by Businesscoot, in 2018 alone as many as 32 million people in Italy used sports supplements.

Nevertheless, there is no shortage of cases where even the dietary habits of athletes require at least some correction. "A significant proportion of the populations studied do not reach the [set] dietary goals for macro- and micronutrients," Frank Thielecke and Andrew Blannin point out, also in the pages of Nutrients, pointing out that among the macronutrients taken in suboptimal amounts by athletes are also included the marine-derived Omega 3 EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

Yet it is precisely EPA and DHA that have been put under the magnifying glass in numerous studies that have highlighted their useful properties and benefits for those who play sports. Their possible areas of application are at least three:

1. the improvement of performance;
2. the improvement of post-exercise recovery;
3. the reduction of the risk of injury and disease.

In theory, a balanced diet in which fatty varieties of fish, such as anchovies, sardines, and salmon, find adequate space could be sufficient to meet the EPAand DHA requirements in adulthood identified by the Italian Society of Human Nutrition (Sinu). In practice, however, it is necessary to come to terms with the needs of the individual sportsman (such as allergies or the exclusion of fish from the diet by ethical choice) and with the fact that research such as that cited above suggests, in order to obtain the above benefits, the need to take much higher doses of EPA and DHA than those suggested by Sinu for the general population.

Here, then, is where EPA and DHA supplements, included within a diet that is as varied and balanced as possible, become key allies of athletes who want to protect their health while improving their performance and their ability to recover after training or competitions.

EPA and DHA for athletes: nutrients against inflammation

The fundamental reason why EPA and DHA can exert so many beneficial effects in athletes is their profoundly anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nature. What we are talking about are, in fact, polyunsaturated fats of the Omega 3 series - to be precise, their biologically active forms - and it has been known for years that when we talk about Omega 3 we are talking about fats that can keep inflammation and oxidative stress at bay.

In particular, years of research have accumulated abundant evidence for the ability of Omega 3 to modulate white blood cell activity by inhibiting chemotaxis, interactions with endothelium, expression of adhesion molecules, and production of cytokines, prostaglandins, and leukotrienes with pro-inflammatory properties.

Not only that, in addition to being precursors of eicosanoids with less inflammatory potential than those produced from another class of polyunsaturated fats, Omega 6, which is particularly abundant in modern Western diets, Omega 3 is the starting material for the production of molecules that can shut down inflammatory processes already in place (resolvins, protectins and maresins).

Omega 3s taken in with food are incorporated into cell membranes, the fluidity and organization of which they modulate; their action is also through the regulation of known proinflammatory factors (such as NF-kB, which they inhibit) and anti-inflammatory factors (such as PPAR-γ, which, on the other hand, they activate).

Inflammation and oxidative stress in sport

All of this is potentially very useful for athletes who, whenever they engage in physical activity, find themselves grappling with a physiological increase in inflammation and oxidative stress and an alteration of their immune defenses.

Promoting oxidative stress is the increased oxygen flow in active muscles, which leads to the production of free radicals. Suggesting how important it is to keep this phenomenon in check is evidence that mitigating the generation of reactive oxygen species can improve athletes' immune defenses and performance.

Inflammation should not be allowed to run rampant either. If, in fact, when it is limited to being a phenomenon circumscribed in time it is preparatory to responses to exercise, when it becomes chronic it is, on the other hand, deleterious.

EPA and DHA for athletes: all-around benefits

Through their effects on the immune system, inflammation, and oxidative stress, Omega 3s promote better recovery after exercise. In particular, EPA and DHA have been associated with reductions in both markers of inflammation (such as TNF-α) and muscle damage (such as myoglobin and creatine kinase) and muscle soreness.

But that's not all: experiments published in the scientific literature also suggest that EPA and DHA may promote muscle protein synthesis and increases in lean mass and strength, with effects on neuromuscular activity that would be attributable to altered membrane composition and fluidity.

In muscles, DHA has also been associated with increased lipid oxidation, insulin sensitivity and glycolytic capacity. More generally, Omega 3 would reduce lipid accumulation in type I muscle fibers and improve metabolic flexibility.

In addition, Omega 3s have been associated:

• to improved cardiorespiratory fitness, with increased VO2 max and endothelial function, reduced oxygen consumption, minimum blood pressure and other cardiorespiratory parameters, and anti-arrhythmic effects;
• to reducing the frequency and duration of symptoms of upper airway infections, which are more common among endurance sports participants;
• Positive effects against arthritis, such as reduction in incidence, severity, pain, stiffness, and analgesia;
• Reduction of markers of head injury;
• improvement of emotional stability, which is often challenged in the case of those who play sports competitively.

Finally, the anti-inflammatory properties of EPA and DHA could be helpful against exercise-induced bronchospasm.

How much EPA and DHA for athletes?

As mentioned, athletes seeking the benefits suggested by scientific research on Omega 3 should take significantly higher amounts of EPA and DHA than the 250 mg total per day indicated for the adult population by Sinu.

Effects on muscle soreness have been observed in studies involving daily intake of doses ranging from 540 to more than 4 grams of EPA and DHA for periods ranging from 7 to 70 days; to observe a reduction in markers of oxidation and inflammation in eccentric exercise injury, it is necessary to take between 1.8 and 3 g of EPA and DHA daily for 4 to 8 weeks.

Therefore, it seems essential to reason in the gram range. In their aforementioned publication in Nutrients, Thielecke and Blannin concluded that dosages between 1.5 and 2 grams per day are needed to achieve improvements in performance and post-exercise recovery, emphasizing that agonists require higher doses.

In terms of timing, however, it is important to remember that Omega 3s take at least 2 weeks to be incorporated into membranes so that their composition changes-and this is important to take into account in anticipation of periods of intense training or scheduled competitions. Also according to Thielecke and Blannin, to improve performance and post-exercise recovery, intake should then be continued for at least 6 to 8 weeks, and agonists should take them longer than amateurs.

Long-term supplementation results in reduced inflammation and muscle soreness, with improvements in muscle function as well; in the case of athletes with poor adherence to such a prescription, even acute supplementation at very high dosages (1 g of high-EPA fish oil per 10 kg of body weight) may have benefits in terms of muscle performance and strength recovery, but without obvious anti-inflammatory effects.

With regard to other benefits, the data currently available suggest that we should always reason in the order of grams per day.

Which supplement to recommend?

Given the high dosages and duration of intake, the most suitable products for athletes are those that, in addition to a high profile of freshness and purity (corresponding, in turn, to health safety), are characterized by a sufficiently high concentration to allow these dosages to be reached with the fewest number of capsules per day.

We suggest Omegor® Vitality 1000: discover its features by visiting our shop!

Bibliographic references:

Businesscoot. The market for dietary supplements for sports - Italy (2023). Update: 11/10/2023. Last viewed: 12/03/25

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