Some dietitians recommend equaling intakes of the polyunsaturated fatty acids Omega-6 and Omega-3, with an absolute maximum of 4 times Omega-6 over Omega-3. A high intake of Omega-6 over Omega-3 can inhibit utilization of ingested Omega-3, resulting in inflammation and promotion of a wide range of degenerative disorders such as osteoarthritis, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s, cancer, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders, as well as arrhythmia, depression, and painful menstrual cramps. Children deficient in Omega-3 tend to be more at risk for attention deficit and/or hyperactivity disorders, and to have learning and memory problems. Adults deficient in Omega-3 may also remember less readily. Omega-3s are found in significant percentages in relatively few foods. The SAD high fat diet supplies an average 10 to 20 times Omega-6 over Omega-3. About 60% of Americans are deficient in Omega-3 (Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, by Udo Erasmus, ISBN 0-920470-38-6; mercola.com/2002/mar/16/omega3.htm).
Balance of the Omegas is important for formation of needed phospholipids. Phospholipids are critical for robust cell membranes and therefore for healthy cells, especially in the brain. Omega-3s may well amelioratemany types of mental disorders, including depression. Omega-3s may eventually be demonstrated to be as beneficial to the nervous system as B vitamins. The combination of improved balance of the Omegas and low-dosage vitamin B complex may well ameliorate many mental challenges including ADD/ADHD.
A nutritionist might advise to correct an initial Omega imbalance by consuming much more Omega-3 than Omega-6 for a month or so, thereafter equaling consumption of the two. Correcting the imbalance can promote more robust health throughout the body. Supplements balanced in Omega-3 and Omega-6 are available (www.udoerasmus.com).
The polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in oils become rancid (oxidize) at room temperature much sooner than the saturated fatty acids. Olive oil is commonly stored without refrigeration because the rancidity does not much affect flavor until the oil is about 20% rancid, especially the fragile polyunsaturated Omegas in it. However, rancidfatty acids can be somewhat toxic. Oils that are mainly polyunsaturated such as flaxseed or walnut oil need to be refrigerated from the time of extraction or pressing until usage.
“Extra virgin” olive oil in general has been filtered for clarity, removing many concentrated nutrients. The oil gets extracted in a continuous centrifuge where hot water is used to help separate out the oil, washing out the antioxidant polyphenols that protect the delicate unsaturated fatty acids, shortening the shelf-life to a few months, during which many fatty acids become irreversibly rancid and useless, possibly toxic (“The Olive Oil Scandal” by Raymond Francis, Beyond Health, www.chetday.com/articlemenu.html).
Flaxseed oil contains the highest ratios of Omega-3 fatty acids to Omega-6 fatty acids [from any land-plant], with a ratio of nearly threeto one Omega-3 over Omega-6. Refrigerated flaxseed oil has a pleasantmild flavor. If it tastes bad, it’s rancid. It’s also worth checking the oil in capsules for rancidity. Flaxseed oil gets rancid faster than other seed oils that contain more of the antioxidant vitamin E, such as hempseed oil. The digestibility of flaxseed oil improves tremendously if it’s fresh, and with mixing. If it hasn’t agreed with one in the past, it may have been rancid; fresh may well get digested easily.
Flaxseed must not be used in cooking since heat destroys the beneficial fatty acids in the oil. Therefore the cool dishes described in “Appendices: transitional recipes” are ideal, with leftovers refrigerated. This oil also can be used on food after it’s been cooked, on salads or cereals.
Chemically extracted oils may prove detrimental. Cold pressed flaxseed oils are available (Barlean, Life Enhancement Resources, Flora Inc., Omega Nutrition).
Flaxseed meal contains lignans that are phytonutrients with anti-microbial properties, lignans that also can help protect against several degenerative disorders. In addition, lignans are phytoestrogens with effects similar to those in soy. Often purchased flaxseed meal tastes bitter and rancid due to oxidation since grinding. A small coffee grinder (fastest) or a grinder specially made for flax (www.rawfood.com-works faster on the coarse setting than on the fine setting-) can be used to grind flaxseeds every few days or so, with refrigeration to assure freshness. Even refrigerated commercial flaxseed meal and especially oil may be oxidized and rancid to some degree due to the length of time in shipping and shelf storage before sale. In “high lignan” flaxseed oil the lignans have settled to the bottom; they’re very hard to remove from the bottle. Golden flax is easier to chew whole than brown. Both work well sprinkled on food after it’s been cooked, on salads or cereals.
Whole flaxseeds preserve the oils and phytonutrients naturally much longer than commercially processed, even under refrigeration. Although whole flaxseeds may or may not prove a little tough to chew, after a quarter-hour soaking in water or prepared foods flaxseeds become quite chewable, with a flavor of nuts. After soaking overnight, the soluble fiber in the softened flaxseeds extends into the water, forming a consistency similar to cooked oatmeal, and allowing ready mixing in cool dishes or cooling soups or broth as a thickener. The degree of softening depends not only on duration, but also on the volume ratio of water to flaxseeds, from 1:1 to 3:1. Inevitably a significant portion of whole seeds will neither get chewed nor digested, but pass right through without assimilation of the nutrients. Extra seeds may need to be consumed to make up the difference.
One could soak flaxseeds overnight to germinate them, reducing growth inhibitors, then food process them to chop them up. Since their soft fiber tends to stick to the blades, for practicality I forgo germinating them and simply eat them in their dormant state, freshly ground.
Many people have concluded that flaxseed oil or meal doesn’t agree with them. If so, one may have only tried rancid oil or meal. Fresh oil tastes very mild, rancid oil bitter; freshly ground meal has a delightful slightly nutty flavor that makes it an ideal accompaniment to many foods, including fruit. Fresh flaxseed oil or meal may well prove very easy on the digestive tract. Any polyunsaturated oil like flaxseed or fish oil can turn rancid by reacting with oxygen to produce hydroperoxides that can damage cell membranes.
Organic English walnuts contain 84% fat calories, of which 10% are known to be saturated, 14% monounsaturated, and 73% polyunsaturated, with a ratio of four to one Omega-6 to Omega-3. Omega-6 will be in substantial excess, if walnuts get consumed to the exclusion of flaxseeds. “Raw” walnuts do contain phytonutrients, some of which could get deactivated by overheating by roasting. Black walnuts contain much less Omega-3 than English walnuts.
Nutritional hemp kernels contain 30% fat calories, of which 11% are known to be saturated, 13% monounsaturated, and 76% polyunsaturated, with a ratio of 3.2 to one Omega-6 to Omega-3, not so much of an excess as in walnuts.
The long-chain Omega-3 fatty acid DHA is critical for all cell membranes. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is a long-chain Omega-3 made from short-chain Omega-3s. (DHA is not the hormone DHEA.) This fatty acid composes about 30% of the eye’s retina and 15% of the brain’s cerebral cortex. Extremely low levels of beneficial DHA have been found in persons with degenerative disorders including cancer, associating a deficiency with cancer. Shorter chain Omega-3s also get used in membranes, so one still benefits from eating one or two tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseed daily even when supplementing refrigerated DHA. A supply of ground flaxseed can get stored in the refrigerator for several days without getting rancid and bitter.
With sufficient “building-block” or “essential” Omega-3s (equivalent to say 2.5 tablespoons of fresh flaxseed oil) some people can generate sufficient DHA. Consuming insufficient Omega-3s, or much more Omega-6 than Omega-3, or consuming transfats or substantial saturated fat such as in animal products, can inhibit one’s ability to generate DHA. The body may make less DHA with advanced age or with disorders that limit the production of the enzymes needed to synthesize DHA, such as the enzyme delta-6-desaturase. Many people at any age may not secret enough of the enzymes needed to synthesize DHA.
Omega-3 fatty acids, especially refrigerated DHA, can reduce pain by decreasing inflammation.
Fish oil contains DHA but is often rancid within the capsules, providing harmful oxidized Omega-3s and causing digestive discomfort. Fish oils contain saturated fat and cholesterol, which tend to cause LDL ["bad" cholesterol] levels to increase. Saturated fat increases the viscosity of blood, slowing the flow in capillaries, increasing the chance of clotting and stroke. Fish oils may contain toxins from the ocean such as mercury compounds that accumulate in fat. Fish oils sometimes get processed by washing with the toxic alcohol methanol.
Beneficial DHA also can be derived from vat-cultured nutritional micro-algae. DHA is available as a vegan supplement from health stores or in a vegan form freeze-dried for freshness, sold from the site www.DrFuhrman.com. (I take 200 mg per day.) If one has become very deficient in DHA, supplementation of refrigerated DHA twice a day for a month or two would speed replenishment.
GLA, a long-chain Omega-6 made in the body from short-chain Omega-6 and found in Evening Primrose Oil could be taken as well, since it complements DHA. DHA and GLA both are used to make complimentary prostaglandins, hormone-like compounds found in virtually every cell of the body. Prostaglandins regulate inflammation, many reproductive functions and muscle contraction. The body needs a regular supply of at least the essential short chain Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids to continually make more DHA and GLA, then prostaglandins, since prostaglandins are short-lived. An imbalance of DHA and GLA in the body can eventually lead to various disorders including cardiovascular disorders, cancer and diabetes.
If any oil, whether vegan or from fish, tastes bitter upon breaking the capsule, it may be partially rancid and toxic.
The majority of fish sold in supermarkets has been “factory-farmed”. To increase survival in unsanitary conditions (swimming in excrement), large quantities of antibiotics get administered, similar to the practice in factory-farming of land animals whose environments are often similarly contaminated. (The majority of antibiotics are administered to animals, not people.) The fish are fed meal made from ocean-going fish, any of which contain cumulative mercury compounds toxic to people. Farm-raised fish including salmon contain about half or less of the beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids of wild cold water sea-fish, since they also eat a lot of corn that is high in Omega-6, instead eating beneficial marine algae. Warm water and fresh water fish contain only a fraction of the Omega-3 fatty acids of wild cold water sea-fish such as sardines.
Cooking flesh or oils by any high temperature method such as grilling, frying and even baking converts fats into acrylamides. Acrylamide is a known carcinogenic and neurotoxic substance produced in the manufacture of plastics. Its presence in food was a chance discovery by researchers when testing tunnel workers exposed to large quantities of acrylamide from a water sealant in 1997. After finding similarly high levels in the blood of workers who had not been exposed to the sealant, the researchers concluded that diet was responsible. Acrylamide tends to attack the thyroid gland, female mammary gland, male testes, and mouth. Boiling foods appears not to create acrylamides. Eating flesh raw exposes one to pathogenic organisms and the high uric acid always present in all flesh, as well as mercury in ocean-going and farmed fish fed sardine meal.
To improve the image of animal products, the industry advertises the fat content as a percentage of weight including water, rather than as a percentage of calories, which allows ready comparison with other foods. For example, “1% fat” cottage cheese contains 11.7% of calories from fat [USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 15 (August 2002) http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl]. Broiled “extra lean” ground beef contains 57.5% of calories from fat (www.nutribase.com).
Asian immigrants who switch to the usual SAD ultimately sickening diet experience rates of degenerative disorders similar to those generally prevalent.
A large study of nurses showed no relationship between fat consumption and breast cancer. However, all consumed 30% or more of calories in fat, whereas benefits may only appear for less than 30% in fat.
The artificial transfats imitate saturated in the body, but with even worse effect, promoting cancer, heart disease, and obesity. Trans-fatty acids distort and weaken all cell walls over time, making them much more susceptible to damage from chemicals that are normally found in the body, chemicals that a robust body handles without damage. Problematic modern-day chemicals damage the body much more rapidly due to transfats. Partially hydrogenated oils, deep fried foods, shortening and margarine all contain transfats. Many finger-foods such as wheat crackers and microwave popcorn contain transfats as well as saturated. Cooking by microwave also transmogrifies a significant amount of any food into toxic chemicals besides transfats. Transfats are even found in “fat free” foods.
For better balance of Omegas one could avoid oils high in Omega-6 such as corn, cottonseed, safflower, soy, and sunflower. One could sauté with a water-based sauce or just a little olive oil instead.
Since Omegas thin the blood, they decrease the probability of clotting, pulmonary embolisms and strokes. If you’re taking a blood thinner (anticoagulant) such as Warfarin (Coumadin), please consult a health professional before eating extra omega-3.
For comments on flaxseed oil’s effects on prostate cancer cells, please see “Dealing with cancer”.
