omega-6

I've mentioned Susan Allport's book The Queen of Fats on this blog when taking about fatty acids because it's a fairly good simple primer on the subject. So today via Seth's Blog I found that she abandoned her omega-3/omega-6 balanced diet to do a "Super Size Me" article for O Magazine. They didn't pick it up because the changes she saw were subtle but important...and women's magazines just care about weight. You can read the draft here.

Most medical organizations, as I’ve said, wouldn’t see anything harmful in this change, but a large number of scientists believe that our reliance on cheap, high omega-6 vegetable oils is the underlying cause of many of our health problems. Both omega-3s and omega-6s are essential: we can’t make them ourselves and must consume them in our diet. But a balance between them creates tissues with just the right amount of speed and activity, inflammation and blood flow. Ever since vegetable oil consumption began to skyrocket in the 1950s (replacing butter and lard) so has the incidence of inflammatory diseases, such as heart disease, and metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.

It's interesting because she mentions she usually consumes canola oil, which is a cheap oil fairly low in omega-6 that has become fairly ubiquitous in restaurants and on ingredient lists of processed foods. Canola oil is not popular in the paleo community because it's so highly refined and probably contains excess polyunsaturated fatty acids, but compared to soybean oil, it's an angel. Considering the low price of canola and how much healthier it is, it's kind of unconscionable that companies like Annie's are still using soybean.

So what effects did the high omega-6 diet experiment produce? Thickening of belly fat, upset stomach, shortness of breath... and get this... a drop in metabolic rate. The conventional wisdom is that people who struggle with health problems related to weight eat more, but there is more and more evidence that what you eat is more important than how much you eat. Her arteries also became stiffer.

Something striking is that a main omega-6 source in her experiment seemed to be peanut butter, a food commonly thought of as healthy. Unfortunately, this is a food I crave often.

It would be interesting to do a third experience where Allport reduces total polyunsaturated fatty acids and increases saturated fats. But for those not interested in paleo, it's at least worth eliminating corn/soy oils and getting some DHA(seafood or supplements).

 I meet them all the time- people who tell me that they would never try the paleo diet because their diet makes them feel awesome. Maybe they don't realize that a face covered with acne and a spare tire around their waist aren't exactly markers of feeling awesome. 

I thought of that when reading this NYT article about Alicia Silverstone where she eats a meal presumably loaded with inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids

She settled on nachos and onion rings to start, and mulled beer selections with two girlfriends who had seen her show that night. This was no dive bar that the trio had chosen for a post-performance meal; it was Candle 79, a cozy Upper East Side restaurant that specializes in organic and vegan cuisine. The nachos came slathered in refried pinto beans, tofu sour cream and chili-grilled seitan, a wheat-based meat substitute.

If you are at a vegan restaurant, be sure to avoid fried things. Unless Candle 79 is bucking the trend, they are using canola, safflower, and soy oils, which are rich in omega-6, which to boot is also sensitive to eat. Alicia's fried food was probably loaded with rancid inflammatory fats. I was sad when I realized my favorite veggie-friendly restaurant, Souen, uses such oils to fry in. I LOVED their fried oysters, but I can't order them again. 

But she claims she feels awesome

The karma of turning vegan is amazing. And then to get this sudden weight loss, and my skin is glowing and my nails are strong and my eyes are white — it was wonderful.

But if you google Alicia Silverstone and acne, you can find pictures of her without makeup showing off her not-exactly glowing skin. It's not a surprise: gluten and rancid omega-6s are a nasty combination. It's not veganism that's the real problem here though, it's the idea that veganism is THE PERFECT diet and as long as you don't touch those nasty animal products you are AOK. The truth is that acne is usually caused by things like gluten, sugar, and omega-6 oils. It's hard to avoid these as a vegan...or anyone who eats one, but worth it for everyone!

Last year I had some issues with acne. I realized it was because of my "cheat meal" at the Swedish pub, which was a burger with mayo. The burger bun and the oil in the mayo=bad news for my skin. I have delicate skin and what I eat really does show up, for some lucky people it doesn't, but maybe they aren't so lucky because they don't get that visual indicator. Either way, so many women I know accept acne as normal! If you are 25 and still have acne, that's the sign of a problem. 

I was reading this excellent interview with an ex-vegan this morning and she also talks about her "veganism as perfect diet" blinders:

Did you feel better or worse as a vegan? 

I felt better for the first four months and then progressively worse for the next seven years.

But did you tell people you felt better?

While I was vegan I worked as a manager in a health food store.  I always told myself and others that I felt much better as a vegan (deep down I knew I didn’t).  I think I was actually trying to convince myself that I felt better.  “I’m thinner, so I MUST feel better.” 

If you do the paleo diet you have to be conscious of blinders too. If you are having a problem, admit it and look for solutions. It's very much possible to have a diet that causes problems, but is technically paleo. 

Some readers have wondered: what's the big deal about these omega-3 fatty acids you have been talking about? So here is a list of important facts and why you should care about them.

Omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that both have important roles to play. The scientific evidence shows that omega-3 fatty acids play an important role in the health of the heart and the brain as discussed in this post from Mark's Daily Apple on Fats.

The standard American diet is very very high in omega-6 fatty acids primarily from vegetable oils and grains and fairly low in omega-3 fatty acids. Why is this bad? From an evolutionary perspective it's inappropriate- we evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 that was 2:1- 1:1. There is strong evidence excess omega–6 intake prevents the body from utilizing omega-3 and even depletes it from our body.

Of course we can have a brain without adequete omega-3s, but for optimal mental development omega-3s play a huge role. This post at Whole Health Source talks about research showing that deficient children suffered various effects ranging from low verbal intelligence to poor social behavior.

In another post he talks about how omega-3s play a huge role in the risk for heart disease.Omega-6s oils are often considered heart-healthy, but this is based on outdated and misinterpreted research. The unfortunate connsquences of a high-omega 6 diet are evident in the Israeli Paradox: people in Israeli consume tons of "heart healthy" oils like soybean oil, yet have very high rates of heart disease.

Seafood is the primary source of omega-3s that are readily utilized by the body. Flax and some other plant sources have small amounts, but their conversion to the usable form is low, though this can be increased by decreasing intake of omega-6 as I discussed in my post about seeds. The most interesting evidence, which Susan Allport talks about in The Queen of Fats, comes from a study that compared Africans eating no fish compared to Minnesotans eating some fish, but also lots of Western high omega-6 foods. The Africans had more optimal omega-3 levels! Their low omega-6 intake allows them to utilize more of the omega-3s found in plants.

The role of the ratio is controversial. Some believe that as long as your ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is 10:1-1:1, you are in the clear, but Stephen from Whole Health source presented some good evidence that the total amount of omega-6 is more important. His conclusion is that you should get no more than 4% of our calories from omega-6 fats. The sad fact is that eating lots of fish and fish oil might help with preventing heart disease, but it's like putting a bandaid on a severed arm if omega-6 intake continues to be high. Acculturated Inuit still eat plenty of fish, but that so far hasn't protected them from getting obesity and diabetes from consuming too much omega-6.

The bottom line is that omega-3s are important and too much omega-6 is damaging. Ditch the high-omega 6 oils (safflower, sunflower, soybean, corn, canola) and anything with them (store-bought mayo and sauces unfortunately). All the omega-6s you need can be obtained by consuming nuts and fruit oils like olive oil..though not too much of course! It's also probably wise to consume some seafood or fish oil, but the lower the consumption of omega-6s is, the lower that need is. I personally don't take fish oil anymore because it does have some side effects (burping, bleeding more when cut) that I found unpleasant and it's hard to find a fresh and environmentally friendly source.

I hope Stephen from Whole Health Source writes a book about this someday! The only book I can recommend right now is Susan Allport's The Queen of Fats, which is an interesting primer, though unfortunately it focuses too much on the ratio theory.

Nuts are delicious...they aren't a grain, they are full of fat, low-carb, they are "paleo" what is there not to love? 

Apparently, lots. I addressed their imbalance of fats in a previous post and how they probably aren't paleo, but today an article on Cheeseslave about dental health got me interested in more:

In the interview, Rami told me that peanuts are as bad as soybeans when it comes to phytic acid content. He said that nuts are extremely high in phytic acid. He said that he thinks peanut butter that has not been soaked and sprouted is a “garbage food”. Rami told me that seeds are the absolute worst. Even worse than soy or peanuts. Sesame seeds have double or triple the phytic acid that soy has.

Let's look at the data:

How can paleo dieters bash grains and legumes for antinutrients when they are eating just as many in the form of nuts and seeds? It makes me wonder... which is really a better choice: a "paleo" pancake made from almond butter or a traditionally fermented idli? The idli probably has less phytic acid, that's for sure.

Since phytic acid robs the body of minerals, I think I will avoid it best I can. If I think about it carefully, since I am eating expensive meat...when I eat phytic acid it is robbing me of money!

The paleo diet can blind people by forcing them to argue about the history of food rather than its objective properties. But nuts lose either way. The only evidence of large-scale consumption of nuts comes from mesolithic and neolithic societies. They were between agrarian and foragers, as they still consumed wild foods, but they also engaged in activities that boasted nut production. As I was reminded in a recent permaculture workshop I took (you can view the slideshow from it here), agroforestry is still a form of agriculture.