Omega-3 fatty acids are a group of polyunsaturated fats your body is unable to produce. To get these essential nutrients, you need to ensure your diet includes enough omega-3-containing foods. While many of these acids come from animal sources such as fish and other seafood, they are present in some vegetables or plant-derived products as distinguished from animal-derived products, though typically in much smaller amounts. As vegetables are not a good source of these nutrients, you should look to other foods if you want to boost your omega-3 intake.
Greens
Green vegetables are not a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, though some do contain a modicum of the nutrient. A half cup of cooked spinach, for example, contains .1 g omega-3 fatty acids. Similar amounts are present in chard, kale, collard greens and dandelion greens. The experts at Tufts University recommend you ingest between 7 and 11 g of these acids per day; these vegetables supply a very low proportion of that intake.
Grains
Some grains and bean products are a slightly better source of omega-3 fatty acids, but not by much. According to the Tufts University website, a half cup of dried and cooked soybeans, for example, contains .5 g of omega-3 fatty acids. A 4-oz. serving of regular tofu, a soybean-based product, contains .3 g of omega-3s.
Plant Seeds and Nuts
Plant products such as seeds and nuts also contain omega-3 fatty acids. A 1-oz. serving of walnuts contains a significant amount, 2.6 g. Flaxseeds contain the next highest amount, 1.8 g per 1-oz. serving, while the same serving size of dry-roasted pecans has .3 g. Other nuts or seeds contain .1 g of omega-3 fatty acids per serving or less.
Oils
Vegetable-based oils can be a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. A single tablespoon of flaxseed oil contains 6.9 g of this nutrient, even more than cod liver oil, which provides 2.8 g, according to Tufts University. Other vegetable oils, such as walnut, soybean, canola and olive oil, also contain omega-3 acids, though in lower amounts. Walnut oil, for example, has 1.4 g of omega-3 fatty acids per tablespoon, while olive oil only has .1 g per tablespoon.
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