I recently attended a talk at my local Whole Foods Market given by natural health author Udo Erasmus, PhD where he discussed the properties of fat and, more specifically, the values of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3’s have received an enormous amount of attention lately, due to the fact that they have the ability to improve heart health, brain function, mood, and conditions of inflammation such as arthritis. Another reason omega-3’s are getting so much press? Most Americans don’t consume nearly enough of them.
To make matters worse, while the Standard American Diet is severely lacking in omega-3’s, it consists of an overabundance of omega-6’s. Although omega-6’s are also an essential fatty acid—meaning a person must consume them since the body does not produce them—the imbalanced ratio of omega-3’s to omega-6’s is being blamed for many of the health problems Americans face today (link).
“Life knows exactly what needs to be done, as long as you bring enough of what it needs to do it,” Erasmus told his audience. In other words, providing the body with the proper building blocks—in this case, healthy fats—will ensure it runs the way it should. To determine a healthy fat from an unhealthy one, Erasmus outlined these three properties:
By Andrew Williams •
March 30, 2009
Irish scientists have discovered that adding just a small amount of fish oil to the diet of cattle can vastly reduce the amount of methane produced by, ahem…cow farts.
Climate scientists have long known that, pound for pound, methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping the suns rays, making it a highly potent greenhouse gas. An incredible 900 billion tonnes of the noxious fumes are produced each year by methanogen bacteria that live in the digestive systems of ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats.
By edfblog •
March 27, 2009
Today’s post is by Environmental Defense Fund scientist Tim Fitzgerald.
Seafood is often called brain food. It’s a good source of many different nutrients, including long chain omega-3 fatty acids. Eating fish — or taking fish oil supplements — has been linked to a number of cardiovascular and neurological benefits. For this reason, most health experts and the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines encourage people to eat more seafood.
However, a new study in the journal of the Canadian Medical Association calls this recommendation into question, contending that the health benefits of omega-3’s have potentially been oversold while the ocean’s ability to provide them is failing.
The bottom line? The jury is still out on how much fish we should eat, so making eco-friendly choices is essential.
The study’s authors accurately point out that the oceans can no longer provide us with fish (and fish oil) at the current pace. Barely one-quarter of U.S. fisheries are known to be sustainably fished, and the United Nations reports that 80 percent of the world’s fisheries are now either fully fished (i.e. incapable of providing more) or overexploited.
