The Fats In Our Diet:
We need to eat fat to live. There are many different kinds of fats. In the words of one author there truly are fats that heal and fats that kill. We just need to choose the right fat. Here is a basic rundown of the different types.
Saturated fats are called saturated because the fat chain is full of as many hydrogen molecules as it can possibly hold, thus saturated with hydrogen molecules. These fats come mostly from animal fat, beef, lamb, pork, etc and you can tell because they are solid at room temperature. Butter is also a saturated fat. Coconut oil is a special saturated fat. It is made up of medium chain fatty acids and therefore readily usable as energy. Because of this, it stimulates metabolism and is not stored as body fat like other saturated fats. It is heat stable and I highly recommend using organic coconut oil for frying and sauting food.
Monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and cloudy in the refrigerator. These fats are not essential. These are Omega-7 Omega-9 fatty acids and they are neutral when it comes to inflammation. These are the fats in olive oil, avocados, many nuts and a smaller portion of butter and animal fat. These are good dietary fats, simply because they will not lead to inflammation. Be careful cooking with these. They oxidize readily, especially at higher temperatures, and oxidized fats are chock full of free radicals. Free radicals travel around your body stealing electrons from your cells and contributing to aging and disease.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) come in two main types: Omega-6(O6) and Omega-3(O3.) These are both essential fatty acids, because the human body cannot make them on its own. They must come from the diet. These are the two main dietary fats that are pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory respectively.
O6 are the shorter chain varieties from plant sources. Youve all seen them: Soy bean oil, safflower, canola, corn oil and sunflower oil are the more common ones. They are in salad dressings and other mass produced foods.
O3 fats come in short chain and long chain varieties. Short chain O3s come from flax, hemp, and black currant oils. The longer chain O3s come from marine sources such as fish and shrimp. Because the short chains are not easily made into long chain fatty acids in the body, YOU NEED FISH OILS. Flax oil alone will not get you the long chains that you need for brain development and function.
Trans fatty acids are completely unnatural fats that do not exist in nature. They are chemically produced by the food industry. The most common is margarine. If you read the ingredients for chips and crackers you will see the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. These are the culprits to avoid as much as possible.
The production process starts with rancid vegetable oils that have been heated and oxidized and only gets worse with bleaching and dyes that make them look, smell, and feel good. These have been shown to increase heart disease and also to slow down your own production of good fatty acids.
Now that we know what types of fats there are, lets take a minute to examine how our diets have changed over the centuries.
Omega-3 and Omega-6 in our bodies
Without going into too much biochemistry, I can tell you that these essential fatty acids are responsible for the eicosanoid hormones in our bodies.
These eicosanoids are important chemical messengers in our body. So important that the people who discovered them got the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1982. These messengers are basically divided into 2 groups: PRO-inflammatory and ANTI-inflammatory. Omega-6 is mostly PRO-inflammatory and Omega-3 is mostly ANTI-inflammatory.
Omega-6 fatty acids in corn, safflower, canola and other vegetables were initially introduced to America as heart healthy because they are not saturated fats. We grow so much corn in this country, it seemed logical at the time to use the surplus in foods since they were so healthy. Now that the eicosanoids have been discovered and we know that this balance is so important, we know that these Omega-6 fats are anything but heart healthy. And they are so prevalent that you should avoid them whenever you can, because you will probably get enough anyway.
Here is a chart of some of the functions of the good and bad eicosanoids.
What do Omega-3 Fatty Acids do?
Omega-3 from fish has two main components: EPA & DHA. EPA is the primary anti-inflammatory fatty acid, while DHA is a primary fatty acid in our brain. So Omega-3 will help with the inflammatory component of diseases like, asthma, arthritis, heart disease, hypertension, MS, chronic fatigue, and Cancer. But they will also help with any problem that has a brain or nerve component. These include Alzheimer's, depression (including post-partum depression,) autism, brain development in children, brain maintenance in adults, stroke recovery, bipolar disorder, ADD, and migraines to name a few.
Cardiovascular disease:
One study in The New England Journal of Medicine followed 22,000 male physicians for 17 years and showed that the docs with the highest blood level of long chain omega-3 had an 81% decrease in sudden death which is usually from heart attack.
Another study in 2002 from The Journal of the American Medical Association followed over 86,000 female nurses for 16 years. The ones who reported the highest intake of fish and omega-3's had 45% fewer deaths from heart attack.
There is an interesting study of Inuit (Eskimo) women. These women have a diet that is over 50% fat, sedentary lifestyle, and 75% are smokers. Their diet is about 1:1 Omega-6:Omega-3. This study found a ratio of inflammatory eicosanoids (called arachidonic acid (AA)) to good eicosanoids (EPA) of about 1.1. This was a Canadian study that found that Quebec women had a AA/EPA ratio of 11.1. The Inuit women had a much lower incidence of heart disease despite all the other factors which might lead to heart disease (smoking, etc.)
Asthma:
A study just released in Jan 2006 in 'Chest' (a prominent pulmonary medical journal) showed that people with documented exercise induced asthma virtually had no exercise induced asthma after being on 5g/day of fish oil for 3 weeks.
A study in the Journal of Asthma questioned mothers with asthma (a risk for children to have asthma) and found that eating oily fish (omega-3) at least once a month while pregnant decreased the odds that the child would have asthma. Interestingly, consumption of fish sticks (a source of trans fats with no appreciable omega-3) was correlated with an increased risk of children with asthma.
Other Studied Benefits:
-Omega-3 will lower triglycerides.
-Omega-3 was shown in one study to be as effective as lithium in bipolar disorder
-Children of Mom's supplemented with DHA during pregnancy and lactation had better scores in mental processing tests carried out to 4 yrs of age.
-Retina studies done in 1 week old infants show higher function when mom was on DHA supplement.
At this point I would like to emphasize how important it is for pregnant women and young children to take fish oils. One of the best things a pregnant mother can do for her child is take enough long chain omega-3 to help brain development. The brain starts to develop in-utero, and continues through 6 or 7 years of age.
DHA is a major component of the brain. These years of brain formation have been studied extensively and there are no risks to proper dosage of fish oils as early as 1 week of age. The dose of long chain omega-3 for small children is:
30mg /pound of body weight.
Where do you get your omega-3?
You can get omega-3 fatty acids from eating fish. Unfortunately our lakes, rivers and oceans are contaminated. Fresh water fish are contaminated from land run-off. The land run-off contains multiple chemicals from industry and pesticides. These chemicals include PCB's which are carcinogenic as well as other harmful chemicals. Freshwater and saltwater fish are contaminated with mercury. The basic problem with mercury is it never goes away. So, it travels up the food chain. This means that larger fish and predatory fish have higher levels of mercury.
In researching this newsletter, I am saddened by the widespread contamination of both fresh and saltwater fish. While omega-3 fatty acids are one of the most beneficial foods, many of the fish sources of these have been contaminated to the point that the risk of ingesting harmful and carcinogenic toxins is not worth the benefit of omega-3.
While some fish are ok for adults to eat some of the time, most are not. After reviewing the literature, I would recommend wild caught salmon, sardines, mahi-mahi and saltwater shellfish (shrimp, oysters, and crab). Pregnant women and children under 7 should not eat any fish, unless it has been shown to come from a source that is mercury and PCB free.
You can look at the links below and draw your own conclusion about which fish have the most omega-3, little or no PCB or Mercury and are eco-friendly to harvest.
American Heart Association site:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3013797
You can click this link to see the Illinois Department of Public Health recommendations of which Illinois fish you can eat.
http://www.idph.state.il.us//envhealth/fishadv/fishadvisory05.htm
Smart fish calculator:
http://www.iatp.org/foodandhealth/fishcalculator/data_sources.pdf
This is a great site to learn more about fish and the oceans they live in, as well as what you can eat and do to help improve the oceans:
http://oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?subnav=healthalerts
Fish Oil Supplements
On a brighter note, most of the omega-3 supplements are very healthy and almost completely free of mercury and PCB's. Not all are created equal, though. Some omega-3 brands are not as concentrated, taste bad, or have higher than acceptable levels of mercury. When looking for a supplement, you should look for one of two things:
Pharmaceutical Grade or Molecularly Distilled
You should also look for the triglyceride form as opposed to the ester form. The triglyceride form costs more to make, but it is 3-4 times more absorbable. There are many brands and they come in liquid or capsules. Some brands that I know are good:
Nature-All
Vital Nutrients
Nordic Naturals
Carlson's
Metagenics
Orthomolecular Orthomega
At LightCare Medical Spa I sell 'Nature-All' brand which is a highly concentrated liquid with a hint of lemon taste. It is a molecularly distilled, triglyceride form, but I like it because it actually tastes good. I drink it right from the bottle twice a day. There is no sense getting a fish oil that tastes bad, when you can get Nature-All.
You can contact Art (art@lightcare.net) to order some for yourself. If you take another brand or use capsules and have the problem of burping a fishy taste afterwards, try storing them in the freezer. That will help eliminate the fish burps.
How much do you take?
Depending on your age and the medical conditions you have there are different target doses. These are guidelines. To be exactly correct, we can test your blood and measure the omega-6:3 ratio or the AA/EPA ratio. Target doses are as follows:
Maintaining Good Health 2.4 g/day
Improved Cardiovascular Health 2.4-4.8 g/day
Improved Brain Function 4.8-9.6 g/day
Inflammation Reduction 4.8-9.6 g/day
Optimal Health 4.8-9.6 g/day
Treating Neurologic Disease (Alzheimer's, ADHD) 9.6+ g/day
Now you know a lot more about the fats we eat and why fish oil supplements are so darn good for you. To recap the most important things here is a short list of recommendations.
1. Women, Men, Children, and babies should take a pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplement every day.
2. Choose the seafood you eat wisely.
3. Avoid trans fats.
4. Avoid omega-6 fats (corn , safflower, and canola oils.)
5. Use extra virgin olive oil for salads and dressings.
6. Eat nuts, avocados, and seeds as a source of dietary fat.
7. Use coconut oils for frying and saut'ing.
8. Remember to keep drinking water.
Tip #3 will be coming shortly. I'll tell you all about the benefits of a low glycemic diet. If you like this information, I would appreciate it if you pass it on and have your friends sign up for "Share the Health."
No comments:
Post a Comment