Over the past few years, Omega-3 fats have become all the rage in the health industry. More than half of supermarket shoppers polled reported that they believed that eating products high in omega-3 fats would improve their health. Almost unheard of before the 1990’s, the health benefits of omega-3 fats are staggering- so much so that it truly does stand out as a bit of a panacea: regular consumption of foods naturally high in omega-3 fats has been linked to a reduced likelihood of dying from heart attacks. Omega-3 fats intake has been linked to reductions in blood pressure, prevention of cancers, especially prostate, breast and colorectal cancer, improving immune system function and development and even seems to have a role in reducing the incidence of depression, anxiety and the progression of mental illness in adolescence. Given the impressive health qualities of omega-3’s, and the fact that most Americans don’t consume much of it in their diets as fish and seafood are hardly staples in this part of the world, it’s not surprising that food manufacturers have rushed to create a slew of omega-3 fortified foods. Everything from eggs, cereals, milk, bread, peanut butter and spreads are now augmented with higher levels of omega-3 fats- making them, of course, far more expensive in the process. But the question remains, is there really a health benefit to adding omega-3 fats to our foods? With most of the processed foods on the market, the answer is no. But consumers continue to pay extra for the omega-3 labels.
Omega-3 fats and fatty acids in general aren’t as straightforward as food manufacturers might have you believe but the more you learn about omega-3’s and omega-6’s as well, the more likely you are to make better decisions regarding your food choices. Consumer knowledge has sadly become the modern food industry’s arch-enemy, and knowing more about essential fatty acids will most certainly stop you from spending extra money on a new generation of processed foods that will do little for your health. Understanding how omega-3 fats and other fatty acids react in our bodies can be a bit on the technical side, but the chemistry of it really isn’t that difficult to grasp. While most of us think of fish when we say ‘omega-3 fats’- they actually come from plant sources. Alpha linolenic acid (ALA) is the omega-3 fatty acid that you can find in all green plants and is the most common form of fat found in nature. Leaves in plants produce these omega-3 fats (which we call ‘essential fats’ as our bodies cannot produce them) as a part of photosynthesis, helping the leaves collect light while seeds contain another form of essential fats called omega-6 fatty acids- linolenic acid (LA) which serves as an energy storage mechanism. Omega-3’s are found in high concentrations in our brain tissue, eye tissue and appear to play a role in the glucose metabolism and the reduction of inflammation. Omega-6’s help maintain the rigidity of cell walls in our body, helps with fat storage and the inflammation response.
To make matters a bit more complicated there are actually three types of omega-3 fatty acids that play key roles in the human diet: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) which as we saw comes from plant sources and is extremely abundant, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). All the studies on the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids focus on the consumption of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic (EPA and DHA). These forms of fatty acids have what are called long chain forms of omega-3’s which can be easily used by our bodies, whereas the shorter chain omega-3’s such as alpha linolenic acid (ALA) are not as biologically available to us. Simply put, ALA is the pure omega-3 originating from plant sources and it is designed for plants- in order for other animals to be able to use it effectively it has to be first converted to EPA or DHA. Fish are high sources of omega-3’s that our bodies can use because algae is at the base of their diet and they do the work of converting ALA’s into long chain EPA and DHA for us.
When we consume plant sources of omega-3’s our body has to do the conversion and we aren’t that good at it. A study done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found the conversion efficiency of ALA to DHA in young adult males to be of only a 4% efficiency while another study found the conversion level of ALA to EPA and DHA to be 12%. Other studies have found conversion levels to be as low as less than 0.1% and it appears that the conversion rate can vary from person to person and women appear to convert even less. These studies were done using flaxseed and possibly soybean oil sources- which are both high sources of ALA.
That being said, guess what form of omega-3’s are usually found in most commercial products labeled as high in omega-3’s? You guessed it- most foods use the far cheaper and less volatile ALA forms from flaxseed and soybeans to fortify their foods, not the long chain omega-3’s that are found in fishes. If you look at the ingredient listings, you’ll usually see flaxseed and soybean oils and that way you’ll know for sure that you aren’t going to be getting anything extra out of the omega-3’s in that particular food- so don’t pay extra for it. Unless the ingredients have some form of fish listed- it isn’t going to do you any good. Even then, it might not have any positive impact on your health. A report by the International Cod Liver Omega-3 Foundation found that foods fortified with omega-3 fats conferred no additional health benefits despite being more expensive. .
A study in the Netherlands looked at 4,800 patients with a history of heart attacks and found that the use of margarine injected with different sources of omega-3 fatty acids had no effect in preventing heart attacks. The patients consumed, on average, 18.8 g of omega-3 enhanced margarine per day, which resulted in additional intakes of 226 mg of EPA, 150 mg of DHA, 1.9 g of ALA, or both, in the active-treatment groups. Follow-up on the patients found that the use of the omega-3 fortified margarine had no effect in reducing the occurrence of heart attacks, even though patients were receiving state-of-the-art antihypertensive, antithrombotic, and lipid-modifying therapy. This should come as no surprise to anyone with a basic understanding of the history of food supplementation, as it is usually impossible to get the same benefits from artificially processed compounds as from natural sources.
The other problem with the addition of omega-3 fats to many refined food products is that it takes the focus away from the other unhealthy ingredients it might contain. Boxed cereals are among the most refined and inherently unhealthy foods on supermarket shelves, but by adding omega-3’s it can put a heart friendly stamp of approval on the box. It’s a brilliant marketing tactic, but one that consistently undermines the best interest of public health. Here is a short list of some omega-3 fortified foods that you should keep in mind are still refined carbohydrates that won’t do very much for your health or your waistline. The ever growing list of omega-3 fortified junk foods includes:
- Frozen Waffles
- Kids Dairy Drinks
- Refined Wheat Bread
- Pasta
- ‘Health Bars’
- Breakfast cereals and more
It isn’t rocket science that the best sources of omega-3 fats come from the same sources used in the studies showing its positive effects- namely fish. Oily fishes such as fresh tuna, salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring and trout are the among the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids that our bodies can use and you don’t need that much fish to get the benefits. As little as 100 grams of sardines a week will give you 2,200mg of omega-3 fats which is a little less than what you would find in a standard can. 100 grams of salmon contains a little more at 2,300mg of omega-3 fats, the same amount of mackerel provides 2,000mg, fresh tuna gives you 1,600mg and rainbow trout provides 1,200mg- all within what the realm of what most experts recommend per week. Fish oil supplements always leave some room for questioning as there is no real regulation in terms of how it is made or what is actually inside but so far there have been no major reports of illness from using them. Nevertheless, why take a chance when you can also get the protein and other vital micro and macronutrients from fish and be sure that what you are eating is indeed safe?
How Omega-3 Fats Were Taken Out Of Our Diet
In a way you can think of the modern food production methods as a way of removing the fiber and omega-3 fats from foods.
It is interesting to note that very often our desire to change methods of food production can have unexpected consequences on our health. Some point to the marked reduction in omega-3 fats in our diet as an additional reason why instances of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, arthritis and depression have skyrocketed over the past several decades as our intake was far higher in years gone by. Chicken and meats are all naturally significant sources of omega-3 fats, including the useful EPA and DHA forms as their base diet is, like fishes, plant leaves. The advent of grain based farming changed this. Corn and soy as a base for livestock foods created a diet for them rich in omega-6 fats which we know comes predominantly from seeds and altered the amount of EPA and DHA omega-3 fats in our diets. Like fishes, these animals would do the job of converting ALA to EPA and DHA for us, so eating them gave us a higher ratio of useful omega-3 fats. Today’s government subsidized cheap grain programs see to it that a return to their natural diet won’t happen. Instead chickens are fed either fish oil (which, if you think about the idea of chickens eating fish is a little disgusting) or flaxseed oils to increase the omega-3 fat content in their eggs. The eggs are indeed a good source of long chain omega-3 fats, but I for one prefer chickens that eat grass. Cows are fed flaxseed rich diets as well these days to increase the omega-3’s in their milk and thus justify a hefty price increase. A worrisome state of affairs and ironically the fish seem to be next on this list of unnatural diets since corn and other grains are used extensively in fish farming- thus creating fish with lower levels of omega-3’s. Adding flaxseed to their diets helps to offset this some- but whatever happened to fish eating what they were made to eat?
From a standpoint of convenience, omega-3 fats are volatile oils and are prone to rapid oxidation. Refined white flour was created as an alternative to the healthier and omega-3 rich stone ground flour as the removal of the omega-3 fats made meant the flour wouldn’t spoil as quickly and could be transported over longer distances. It sounded like a great idea at the time, but history has shown that the removal of naturally occurring omega-3’s from bread products brought with it significant consequences. (Read my article- Can Bread Make You Gain Weight for a full history.) In recent years, the process of hydrogenating oils was actually another way of removing useful omega-3 fats and making oils more stable. Food manufacturers care about increasing the profit margins of their shareholders- not whether a vital nutrient is being taken out of the public’s diet and so in the 1970’s when trans fats were hailed as a heart healthy food it became a solid part of the American diet. Trans fats created from hydrogenation are cheaper to maintain, make the foods last longer and people liked the flavor. We know now that trans fats are among the most harmful ingredients to your health, but it’s still found in most processed foods. It’s ironic to see that corporations that profited by removing omega-3’s and creating trans fats oils are profiting today by adding omega-3 fats back to their products.
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