[PHNUTR-L] How Omega-6s Usurped Omega-3s in US Diet

[Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD]

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Source: Axel F. Bang PR & Marketing 	  	
Released: Thu 07-Sep-2006, 09:00 ET
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/523290/?sc=dwhp

How Omega-6s Usurped Omega-3s in US Diet

Description
Omega-6 fatty acids, used in food processing and prevalent in corn oil, 
permeate the American diet and compete metabolically with heart-disease 
preventing Omega-3s. A new book, "The Queen of Fats" tells the story of 
how this happened, why eating fish for Omega 3 may not benefit most 
Americans, and explains what we can do about it.

Newswise — Has a little-known family of polyunsaturated fatty acids 
called Omega-6s, which has quietly permeated the Western diet in recent 
decades, nullified the impact of heart disease-fighting omega-3s? 
According to a new book, The Queen of Fats, Americans now have so many 
omega-6s in our bodies that eating fish to bolster our omega-3s may not 
do any good. Why? Because these two families of fats compete in our 
body’s metabolism.

Or, as Susan Allport, the author of this new landmark book about the 
history, science and economics of omega-3s, published by the University 
of California Press (September, 2006), puts it: “It is not the fish we 
are NOT eating that is our problem, but the oils we ARE eating.”

How have omega-6s saturated the Western diet so completely and quietly? 
Ms. Allport’s heavily researched, fact filled book says that most of our 
cooking oils are heavily laden with omega-6s (much used corn oil, for 
example, has a 46 to 1 ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s; lesser used canola 
oil’s ratio, however, is only 2 to 1), and that whatever omega-3s there 
are in oils are eliminated if those oils are hydrogenated or partially 
hydrogenated to extend the shelf life of foods, as occurs in most food 
manufacturing.

Also, when farmers feed corn and soybeans (instead of grass) to the 
animals we eat, their tissues become full of omega-6s at the expense of 
omega-3s. Eggs from chickens fed corn, for instance, have one-tenth the 
omega-3s in them as eggs from free-range chickens that eat greens and bugs.

According to Ms. Allport’s research, the out-of-kilter balance between 
these two families of fats, one of which is derived from the fats in 
green leaves (omega-3s) and the other from seeds (omega-6s), is as much 
a culprit as cholesterol, saturated and trans fats for our country’s 
epidemics of heart disease, obesity and other chronic health problems. 
Omega-6s are not bad, she cautions; in fact they are absolutely 
essential for health. We just have too many of them.

Ms. Allport writes at a lively pace about how scientists, in just the 
past two decades, have discovered how omega-3s are essential for our 
eyes to see and our brains to function, and she also focuses on policy 
changes that are needed. For example, most people are unaware of the 
omega-6/omega-3 problem because the USDA’s dietary guidelines do not 
mention it. The American Heart Association does not distinguish between 
these two families of fats.

Short of overhauling some aspects of the food processing and vegetable 
oil industries, which she feels ultimately are necessary, Ms. Allport 
suggests we should consume oils and fats that have a healthier balance 
of omega-3s and omega-6s and eat foods that are rich in omega-3s, 
including greens, flax seed, fish, and free range (or omega-3 enriched) 
meat, dairy products, and eggs. She has a handy time line of the 
important omega-3 discoveries (from their use in brain function to 
prevention of arrhythmia), 30 pages of medical and science journal 
citations, interviews with researchers and a handy glossary of terms.
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
"Ask the Parkinson Dietitian"  http://www.parkinson.org/
"Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease"
"Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy"
http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/