Tag Archives: essential fatty acids

Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Help Prevent Obesity Related Disease!

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Obesity is defined as weight that exceeds 15 percent of normal weight for height and body type. “Morbid” obesity exceeds 20 percent of optimum weight. The long-term health implications are well known, in fact, obesity is considered an outright disease. Life expectancy may be decreased in overweight and obese individuals. An obese or overweight person is at high risk for a number of serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, varicose veins, dementia, psychological stress, depression, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, allergies, psoriatic arthritis, and diabetes.

Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that is deficient in the diets of many Americans. In the late 1970s, scientists learned that the native Inuits in Greenland, who consumed a diet very high in omega-3 fatty acids, had surprisingly low rates of heart attacks. Since that time, more than 4,500 studies have been conducted in an attempt to understand the beneficial roles that the omega-3 fatty acids play in human metabolism and health.

Scientists from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks performed a study to examine whether high eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid intakes could modify associations of obesity with chronic disease risk. This cross-sectional study involved 330 Yup’ik Eskimos with an average age of 45 years and that 70 percent of them were overweight or obese. Red blood cell fatty acids were measured and found increases in C-reactive protein (CRP) and triglyceride levels in obese Eskimos with low omega-3 blood levels while such increased levels were not observed in people with high blood levels of EPA and DHA. The researchers commented “Our findings may have important clinical relevance for the prevention of some obesity-related diseases. Obesity prevalence in the US and worldwide has been increasing over the past decades, with subsequent increases in rates of diabetes and other obesity-associated diseases. It is likely that these associations are partly mediated by the positive associations of obesity with triglycerides and CRP, two biomarkers that strongly and independently predict risks of CVD and possibly diabetes.”1

1 Makhoul Z, Kristal AR, Gulati R, et al. Makhoul Associations of obesity with triglycerides and C-reactive protein are attenuated in adults with high red blood cell eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids. Eur J Clin Nutr. Mar2011.

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Is Your Salad Organic?

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Recent news that First Lady Michelle Obama and her family intend to grow an organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House means that the entire First Family will be enjoying organic salads.

Hopefully the news will prompt increased popularity for organic salads everywhere.

Recent statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture show that the percentage of total acres devoted to organic vegetable production for three common salad vegetables, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots, ranks higher than other organic food production categories such as fruit and grains. Still, organic vegetable production remains a very small part of the total vegetable market.

In 2005, 98,870 acres of land were devoted to carrot production and 5.80% or 5,737 acres, were organic carrot production. The percentage of the organic lettuce crop came in at 3.69%, or 11,986 out of 324,500 acres planted. Organic tomatoes rounded out the list with 1.62% or 6,655 out of a total 411,840 acres planted. Figure 1 shows a similar six year trend in organic salad production statistics.

Figure 1

 

 

 

 

Except for a sudden surge and drop in organic lettuce production in 2001-2002, production of the three common salad items held steady over the first half of the decade. In sum, the numbers suggest that less than four percent of all the lunch and dinner salads consumed over this time could possibly be labeled organic.

The strengths and weaknesses of the organic salad market have straight forward supply and demand explanations. The supply side deals with growing issues. Leaf lettuce and carrots, for example, often place high on most gardeners, easiest to grow vegetables list. Large scale production does little to hurt their ease of growing. Growing most of the popular tomato varieties requires more maintenance, and large scale organic tomato production is no different (see Organic Tomato Production).

Demand for organic salad produce, as with other organic products, supports the current market. Price is one factor commonly cited as keeping a lid on demand. For example, according to the Department of Agriculture, in June 2006, a 48 pound sack of carrots conventionally grown cost $10.27. A similar 48 pound sack of organic carrots cost $18. A walk through the produce section of any grocery story backs up those statistics. Organic vegetables are double or triple the price of their non-organic counterparts.

Taking the supply and demand factors into account suggests that organic salads are not a staple of the average American diet. If they are a part of your diet, chances are you’ve grown most of the vegetables in your own garden.

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Why We Should All Eat More Organic Food!

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Organic Food is More Nutritious
  • Organic foods, especially raw or non-processed, contain higher levels of beta carotene, vitamins C, D and E, health-promoting polyphenols, cancer-fighting antioxidants, flavonoids that help ward off heart disease, essential fatty acids, and essential minerals.
  • On average, organic is 25% more nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals than products derived from industrial agriculture. Since on the average, organic food’s shelf price is only 20% higher than chemical food, this makes it actually cheaper, gram for gram, than chemical food, even ignoring the astronomical hidden costs (damage to health, climate, environment, and government subsidies) of industrial food production.
  • Levels of antioxidants in milk from organic cattle are between 50% and 80% higher than normal milk. Organic wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions and lettuce have between 20% and 40% more nutrients than non-organic foods.
  • Organic food contains qualitatively higher levels of essential minerals (such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium), that are severely depleted in chemical foods grown on pesticide and nitrate fertilizer-abused soil. UK and US government statistics indicate that levels of trace minerals in (non-organic) fruit and vegetables fell by up to 76% between 1940 and 1991.
Organic Food is Pure Food, Free of Chemical Additives
  • Organic food doesn’t contain food additives, flavor enhancers (like MSG), artificial sweeteners (like aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup), contaminants (like mercury) or preservatives (like sodium nitrate), that can cause health problems.
  • Eating organic has the potential to lower the incidence of autism, learning disorders, diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, allergies, osteoporosis, migraines, dementia, and hyperactivity.
Organic Food Is Safer
  • Organic food doesn’t contain pesticides. More than 400 chemical pesticides are routinely used in conventional farming and residues remain on non-organic food even after washing. Children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposure. One class of pesticides, endocrine disruptors, may be responsible for early puberty and breast cancer. Pesticides are linked to asthma and cancer.
  • Organic food isn’t genetically modified. Under organic standards, genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are prohibited.
  • Organic animals aren’t given drugs. Organic farming standards prohibit the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and genetically modified vaccines in farm animals. Hormone-laced beef and dairy consumption is correlated with increased rates of breast, testis and prostate cancers.
  • Organic animals aren’t fed slaughterhouse waste, blood, or manure. Eating organic reduces the risks of CJD, the human version of mad cow disease, as well as Alzheimer’s.
  • Organic animals aren’t fed arsenic.
  • Organic animals aren’t fed byproducts of corn ethanol production (which increases the rate of E. coli contamination).
  • Organic crops aren’t fertilized with toxic sewage sludge or coal waste, or irrigated with E. coli contaminated sewage water.
  • Organic food isn’t irradiated. Cats fed a diet of irradiated food got multiple sclerosis within 3-4 months.
  • Organic food contains less illness-inducing bacteria. Organic chicken is free of salmonella and has a reduced incidence of campylobacter.

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