Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Could disease prevention be this simple?

Over the last hundred years there's been a major shift in the American diet and it is this:  we eat foods with fewer omega 3 fatty acids and more  omega 6 fatty acids.  In fact the ratio between omega 6s and omega 3s in the average American diet has changed from around 4 to 1 (omega 6 to omega 3) to over 10 to 1.

This matters because the omega 3s and 6s we consume compete for the same enzymes -- you can push only so much omega 3 and so much omega 6 through the same enzyme system at once.

ARTERY BLOCKING CLOTS                                                                                                                                                         This ratio also matters because omega 3s are converted into anti-inflammatory chemicals while omega 6s are converted into pro-inflammatory chemicals, including something called thromboxane, required for blood clot formation.  These are the very clots responsible for blocking the coronary arteries  during a heart attack.  Too many omega 6s from processed foods tilt the balance towards easy clot formation, artery blockage and heart attacks.  

HEALTHY FATS IN VEGETABLES                                                                                                                                                                                                        Omega 3 fatty acids -- the fats we associate with flax seed and fatty fish such as salmon and sardines -- are also found in green vegetables, such as kale, spinach and broccoli as well as grass fed animals, domestic and wild. 

A SEA OF SEED OILS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Omega 6 fatty acids are the predominant fats in seed foods -- grains and the polyunsaturated seed oils whose supposed health benefits have been so enthusiastically touted by so-called experts over the last fifty years.  Sunflower, soybean, corn and and cottonseed oil, for example. 

These common seed oils are stripped of their natural antioxidant protection by harsh heat processing and altered into hydrogenated forms to prolong shelf life; they are anything but healthy.    In fact, they are lethal killers, though once touted by medical authorities as healthy alternatives to butter, lard and coconut oils, which were never the dangers they were made out to be in the first place. 

TOO MUCH OMEGA 6 EQUALS INFLAMMATION                                                                                                                                                        Inflammation is a major player -- possibly the major player -- in every chronic degenerative disease that plagues humankind -- heart disease, diabetes, dementia, cancer, automimmune disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and so on. 

The result -- people dig their graves with their knives and forks.  The food industry supplies altered foods to people that hasten the onset of chronic disease, which the medical industry treats with drugs and surgery.   There's plenty of profit in this picture for a few corporations along with the science and medical professionals they employ, but at a staggering cost to human health and well being.  We're in the midst of a health care crisis that threatens to bankrupt our country.  A major factor has been the decision to alter our foods in a way that favors shelf life over human life. People are literally eating themselves to death.

SATURATED FATS NOT THE PROBLEM                                                                                                                                                                                            Saturated fats are found in meat, poultry and dairy and tropical coconut and palm oils. They figure in this picture, but not as the lethal artery clogging poisons they've been made out to be.  Instead, they are necessary natural fats we humans have been consuming for millenia, necessary for good health and normal cell functioning.  The problem with saturated fats may be in the chemicals that common supermarket meat and dairy products come packaged with -- hormone, antibiotic and pesticide residues.  These can be avoided by enjoying natural or organic fats in moderation from grass fed animals.

Mono-unsaturated fats found in foods like olives, nuts and lard, are healthy and should be included in your diet.  But the important story is the shifting interplay and imbalance between omega 3s and omega 6s -- and the economic forces that have driven us into this dire mess.  Billions of dollars and millions of lives are there for the saving.

BALANCE YOUR FATS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 What this means for you is simple:  stick with real whole foods including plenty of green vegetables and as much fatty fish as you like.  Wild caught Pacific salmon, sardines, herring and mackerel are safe and richest in omega 3s.  When it comes to supplementing with fish oil, you don't need to take a whole lot if you avoid industrial foods -- just add up the total DHA and EPA and aim for a total of around 1000 mgs a day.  This is enough to support a healthy protective fat balance in your cell membranes -- as long as you're not overwhelmed with omega 6s from processed foods.  It's all about balance.  For a safe fish list, see the Elimination Diet section on this web site.

For more information I recommend THE QUEEN OF FATS: Why Omega 3s were removed from the Western Diet and what we can do to replace them, by Susan Allport (Univ of California Press).