Column #3

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” He was saying “you are what you eat.”

Mammals require many elements and compounds to “manufacture” tissues, nutrients, and chemical messengers. But some required nutrients cannot be fabricated by the body. These “essential nutrients” (minerals, many amino acids, most vitamins, and a few fatty acids) must be eaten.

The Earth’s first sustainable life form was a one-celled green plant that absorbed energy from the sun and nutrients from its surroundings. Then came animals that ate green plants for energy, minerals, amino acids, vitamins, and fatty acids. Animals could also eat other animals because the green plant was at the bottom of the food chain. In like manner, man gets his essential nutrients, including the critical Omega-3 fatty acid, from plants or animals that ate plants.

In a previous column underscoring the importance of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) – Omega-6 (n6) and Omega-3 (n3) – I explained that nutritional scientists determined people need an equal balance of n6 and n3. Their studies indicate many chronic diseases start when the weight of n6 in body tissues (cell membranes) exceeds the weight of n3 by more than 4:1. Unfortunately the typical American diet has a weight-ratio of about 15:1. This serious overload of n6 with a deficiency of n3 is thought to be a primary reason for America’s “epidemic” of chronic diseases.

Why are modern foods deficient in n3 when the proper balance of EFAs was at one time always a certainty? Have our foods deteriorated from what they once were or has man changed the foods he eats?

With the invention of farming 10,000 years ago, man radically changed the mix of foods he eats. Mechanization accelerated farming methods yielding the modern food system that is based on grain (seeds of grass) instead of green leafy plants.

Based on USDA data, the average n6 to n3 balance for cabbage, broccoli stalks, brussel sprouts, collards, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mint, mustard greens, spinach, turnip greens, and watercress is 0.4:1. These “greens” have always provided healthy ratios.

But the EFA averages of other food groups can be a problem. Grains average 17:1. Seeds (except chia and flaxseed) average 35:1. Nuts average 16:1. Fruits average 5:1. Soybeans are 8:1. Peanuts are 5,233:1. (No, that is not a mistake.) Conventional “grain-fed” pork and chicken averages 20:1. Conventional grain-fed beef, buffalo, lamb, and goat are about 15:1. On the other hand “grass-fed” beef, buffalo, lamb, and goat are approximately 1:1. Wild-caught seafood averages an astounding 0.1:1.

Year-round mass production creates an abundance of grain, seeds, nuts, fruit, soybeans, peanuts and grain-fed livestock products also making them relatively inexpensive. To avoid chronic disease, subdue symptoms, and spend less on healthcare, intelligent food choices are required to balance the EFAs each day.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

The Importance of the Ratio of Omega-6/Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids

Food Analysis: GI, GL, Fat Ratio, and Nutrient Load

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