Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Smith
add'l input welcome)
|
I'm still very much learning about it, but it seems that hemp oil has the right balance between omega-6 and omega-3 "precursor" oils. Linoleic acid can be elongated to arachidonic acid, where linolenic acid (good job on the names... also not to be confused with oleic acid, which is an omega-9) can be transformed into DHA/EPA.
However, some researchers comment that this conversion is not very efficient, and that it's better to directly consume DHA and EPA. But if those are not available for whatever reason, we can make do with hemp oil.
(again, I'm not an expert)
I was always a bit bothered by the "fish" thing, as history places the early humans in areas where there wasn't much fish. But then I understood that many of these EFA's can be found simply in plants and weeds, and if anything that we have selected plants for our food that keep fresh as long as possible; sadly, that means we have selected on less and less omega-3, as it oxidizes so easily. The spinach we eat today contain about 40% of the EFA's it originally contained, for example.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsD
It is not MY fault my parents never ate fish because my Grandmother choked on a fish bone many decades ago.
|
Ha, yes. Then again, don't forget that it's only 30 years that we really "know" that omega-3 is essential, especially for babies and kids. One of the things I learned from Queen of Fats is that breast milk contains high doses of DHA - much higher than the levels found in the mother. Nature seems to "know" how important it is for brain development (and also eye development). Needless to say the first formulas contained no DHA.
I know we can only buy/read so many books
but I really think you will enjoy it. My main beef is that it is "short"; but it has connected many many dots for me. (Eczema seems to be connected with a shortage too, and I had terrible episodes as a toddler, bad enough so that I had to be tied up to the bed to stop me from scratching). I have been allergic to most fish all my life, so it may not be surprising how well the high dose omega-3 seems to work for me.
Of course, we have to be careful that we don't assume we'll reach world peace with a good omega-3/omega-6 balance
but it is amazing how important it is. (we can even tweak our metabolism rate with that balance...)
PS: as a teaser: the book explains how prostaglandins got their name (well, they are now called eicosanoids, as we now know the name is wrong). They only "live" for about 30 seconds BTW, so it was very very hard to find/measure them.