The French (10) daily recommended intake of ALA is 2 g
for men (for 2200 kcal/day) and 1.6 g for women (for 1800
kcal/day) and 1,5 g in ageing people (for 1700 Kcal/day). A
recent study carried out in Aquitaine showed that women of
child-bearing age obtain only 40% of the recommended daily
ALA requirement from their diet (11). Similar results were
obtained in Brittany in a study on a small sample of men and
women (12), throughout France in the SUVIMAX study, as
reported by the AFSSA (13) (Table IA) and in other countries:
Canada (14), Sweden (15) and US (16). The actual intake of
EPA and DHA is not clearly documented. The estimated
consumption of the long chain omega-3 FA in France has yet to
be published, but the Brittany study showed that the intake of
DHA and EPA was 110 mg per day in this region (12), which is
less the recommended daily requirement, 120 mg DHA per day
for men and 100mg DHA for women and 100 mg for aged
people. Table 1B presents the recommendations for EPA and