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Docosahexaenoic acid
The fat your brain is largely built from: our record puts it at about 40% of the phospholipids in the brain. We use it on its own in exactly one formula, we hold two general authorised EU claims for it plus two that apply only to pregnant or breastfeeding women, and we have not documented a single interaction pair for it yet. That is a reason to include it, not a permission to promise anything.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
Two general claims. Brain and vision.
These are the wordings our register holds for DHA under Regulation (EU) 432/2012, Article 13.1. The condition attached to them is a daily intake of 250 mg, and the one formula that carries DHA serves 500 mg, so the condition is met with room to spare. Our entry stores these sentences in Spanish, so the English here is a literal translation of that entry rather than a rewriting of it.These are the wordings our register holds for DHA under Reg. 432/2012, Art. 13.1. The condition is a daily intake of 250 mg, and the formula that carries it serves 500 mg.
The formula that carries DHA is called Cognition & memory. The claim says brain function, not memory, and those are not the same sentence. Our file holds nothing authorised for DHA on memory, on mood or on focus. The only heart claim on file is for EPA and DHA together, with a daily intake of 250 mg of the two, and it belongs to our EPA + DHA (marine omega-3) ingredient, not to DHA on its own. Our register also holds two Article 14.1.a claims on maternal intake: "Maternal intake of DHA contributes to the normal brain development of the foetus and breastfed infants." and "Maternal intake of DHA contributes to the normal visual development of the foetus and breastfed infants." They apply only to pregnant or breastfeeding women, taking 200 mg of DHA a day on top of the baseline 250 mg of DHA and EPA, so we do not present them as claims of Cognition & memory.
WHY AN OIL
Two origins, the same molecule.
The form marked as preferred in our record is oil from Schizochytrium microalgae or from small fish. The molecule is identical either way; what changes is the allergen and who can take it. Our allergen and diet fields assume the fish route: they declare fish under Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, Annex II, and mark DHA as unsuitable for vegan and vegetarian diets.
Our record names algal DHA as the vegan alternative, and this route carries no fish allergen. It is an option on file, not confirmed as the one we buy.
Oil from small fish. It contains fish, a declared allergen, and it is the reason our record marks DHA as incompatible with vegan and vegetarian diets.
Our pharmacokinetic record puts oral bioavailability at about 90% for the triglyceride and phospholipid forms, against 60 to 70% for the ethyl ester. Which of the two our supplier uses is not fixed on file.
DHA is an oil, sensitive to light, oxygen and heat, and our own record marks the preferred form as not stable in liquid. VION doses in liquid. That is a formulation problem we have written down rather than glossed over, and this page is not the place where it gets solved.DHA is an oil, sensitive to light, oxygen and heat, and our record marks the preferred form as not stable in liquid. VION doses in liquid. That problem is written down, not solved.
WHERE IT APPEARS
One of the twenty-nine carries DHA on its own.
One formula out of twenty-nine carries DHA as an ingredient on its own, but it is not the only way DHA reaches you. Our EPA + DHA (marine omega-3) ingredient carries it too, in six formulas: Autoimmune thyroid 1000 mg, Oxidative cardiovascular 1500 mg, Systemic inflammation 2000 mg, Muscle damage (CK) 2000 mg, Anti-inflammatory & recovery 2000 mg and Cardiovascular 1500 mg. Those doses are EPA and DHA together; our record does not say how much of each is DHA. Its page is /pages/ingredient/epa-dha-marine-omega-3. Worth knowing that our library still lists DHA as a candidate ingredient, while the formula carrying it is approved and waiting on clinical validation.
THE CEILING
None for DHA on its own.
EFSA has not published a numerical tolerable upper intake level for DHA on its own, and our record says exactly that rather than filling the gap with a number of our own. What the record does hold is a combined limit of 5000 mg a day for EPA and DHA together, and the DHA in this formula counts towards that total, along with any EPA + DHA in the rest of your plan and anything you take on your own. For DHA alone, we work from the doses documented in the clinical literature.EFSA has not published a numerical upper intake level for DHA alone. Our record holds a combined limit of 5000 mg a day for EPA and DHA together, and this DHA counts towards it.
Our dose record lists 1000 mg a day, over twelve to twenty-four weeks, as the minimum effective dose. The formula serves 500 mg. That clears the 250 mg claim condition, but it is half the 1000 mg minimum effective dose on record. Only the older legacy entry of 500 to 1000 mg a day would include it.
Our pharmacokinetic record puts the onset at two to four weeks, and the formula is built to be held for twelve. Nothing about DHA is a same-day effect.
Do not exceed the recommended daily dose. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet. Keep out of reach of young children. Contains oily fish, a declared allergen. If you are on anticoagulants or have a bleeding disorder, speak to a healthcare professional before taking it. Stop one to two weeks before elective surgery.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
No documented pairs yet.
DHA is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners, plus every medication. Our interaction tables hold zero entries for it. The one thing on file is a bleeding-risk rule in our engine, set out below. We would rather print that than leave the section out.
Neither our ingredient-to-ingredient table nor our ingredient-to-medication table holds a single entry for DHA. That is an empty record, not a clean bill of health.
In Cognition & memory, DHA sits with vitamin B12, vitamin B6, folate, phosphatidylserine and bacopa. None of those five pairings is documented in our tables either.
Our engine's bleeding-risk rule groups omega-3 with antiplatelet ingredients and flags it as contraindicated for people on vitamin K antagonist (VKA) or direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) medication. Our label also asks anyone anticoagulated or with a bleeding disorder to consult a healthcare professional, and to suspend the supplement one to two weeks before elective surgery. It contains oily fish, a declared allergen: if you are allergic to fish, this ingredient is out.
443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%, and none of those 443 involves DHA. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%, and none of them involves DHA. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
Every one of them has a page like this.
What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.