• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans

Photo
- - - - -

Too much omegas?

chia hemp seeds flax omegas fatty acids omega fatty acids fish oil omega 3 omega 6

  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 nubiensunset

  • Guest
  • 44 posts
  • 2
  • Location:USA

Posted 07 February 2016 - 03:37 AM


Hey,

 

 

The past week I have been eating a seed bowl that I find quite tasty. It consists of

3 tbsp hemp seeds, 3 tbsp chia seeds, 3 tbsp cacao nibs + Plus Flax milk (contains cold pressed flax seed oil) or water.

 

This bowl is very high in fiber, protein, and seems to be pretty nutrient rich. But do you think it is overkill and potentially unhealthy to consume this many omegas?



#2 aconita

  • Guest
  • 1,389 posts
  • 290
  • Location:Italy
  • NO

Posted 07 February 2016 - 09:34 AM

I would worry more about the fibers than the fatty acids but if your guts handle it should be OK.


  • Disagree x 3

sponsored ad

  • Advert
Click HERE to rent this advertising spot for NUTRITION to support LongeCity (this will replace the google ad above).

#3 joelcairo

  • Guest
  • 586 posts
  • 156
  • Location:Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • NO

Posted 07 February 2016 - 07:38 PM

Not unless that's your only source of nutrition. The average diet could undergo enormous changes in the omega 3:6 ratio with nothing but healthful benefits.



#4 joelcairo

  • Guest
  • 586 posts
  • 156
  • Location:Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • NO

Posted 07 February 2016 - 07:42 PM

P.S. Hempseed is actually quite a bit higher in omega-sixes than in omega-threes, opposite to what I would have guessed. Of course the next step, if you wanted to analyze this to death, would be to figure out exactly what those fatty acids are and what effect each has.



#5 Darryl

  • Guest
  • 650 posts
  • 657
  • Location:New Orleans
  • NO

Posted 08 February 2016 - 04:51 PM

For most omnivores, the aggregate omega-3:omega-6 ratio, which will be dominated by the shorter chain alpha-linoleic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA), is probably misleading. The immediate precursors competing for conversion to signaling eicosanoids are the longer chain eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and arachidonic acid (AA), and as males and post-menopausal women have little elongase activity converting ALA to EPA and LA to AA, their effective balance of these long-chain precursors will be largely dictated by their dietary intake of EPA and AA, rather than that of the shorter essential fatty acids. Premenopausal women (as well as male-to-female transexuals taking estrogen) have much more elongase activity, presumably to ensure adequate EPA, DHA, and AA for pregnancy and lactation.
 
Practically, all dietary EPA and AA will be from animal products, with EPA dominating the balance of the two in wild caught cold-water fish, a rough balance in grass-finished meats, and AA dominating in all other animal products due to grain feeding in modern animal agriculture. From the limited elongase perspective, pescetarian diets focusing on wild caught cold-water fish (with no other animal products) appear the most attractive option for ensuring a high EPA:AA ratio.
 
See also: 
 
Simopoulos AP. 2008. The importance of the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio in cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Experimental Biology and Medicine, 233(6), pp.674-688.
Burdge GC & Calder PC. 2006. Dietary α-linolenic acid and health-related outcomes: a metabolic perspective. Nutrition research reviews, 19(01), pp.26-52.
McDaniel JC et al. 2010. Effect of n-3 oral supplements on the n-6/n-3 ratio in young adults. Western journal of nursing research, 32(1), pp.64-80.
 
Personally, I eat no animal products, avoid high LA refined oils and processed foods that contain them, and take a high-potency EPA+DHA supplement. My pool of eicosanoid precursors is dominated by EPA. And health wise, I'm fine, and seem to experience fewer systemic inflammation related symptoms (from sore joints to ED/aka mid-stage atherosclerosis) than others my age. I believe the inflammatory tone of our innate immune system that was adaptive when parasites and open wound trauma were commonplace is overkill in our more hygenic and less violent modern state.

Edited by Darryl, 08 February 2016 - 05:45 PM.

  • Informative x 5
  • Good Point x 1

#6 albedo

  • Guest
  • 2,063 posts
  • 732
  • Location:Europe
  • NO

Posted 26 February 2016 - 10:37 AM

Informative post Darryl.

 

Also, considering the fact that cronic diseases are affected by many factors, in particular your genetics, the optimal ratios omega-6/omega-3 may vary. I am trying to study some of the related nutrigenomics aspects in my tread, e.g. here.

 

When looking at prostate cancer, a concern of mine, I recollect Japanese men, having a low incidence of the disease, are more close to 2:1 ratio while in Western countries, with probably America taking the lead, you might reach as high as 40:1 in the extreme cases (closer to 20:1 more generally) with prostate cancer incidence high. There might be many confounding factors for Japanese men (soy consumption?) but I believe a high ratio and increased inflammation is a strong factor.

 

I am in the range 3-2, targeting 2, which I could achieve looking mainly at controlling EPA and AA intake and their ratio. Dr Sears in his Zone Diet has studied the primary cronic inflammation biomarkers and gives, in his “Anti-Inflammation Zone” book, a ratio AA/EPA of 3 (good) to 1.5 (ideal) together with fasting insulin 10 (good) to 5 (ideal).

 

You can see also:

The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids. http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/12442909



#7 misterE

  • Guest
  • 1,035 posts
  • -76
  • Location:Texas
  • NO

Posted 29 February 2016 - 08:37 PM

 

When looking at prostate cancer, a concern of mine, I recollect Japanese men, having a low incidence of the disease, are more close to 2:1 ratio while in Western countries, with probably America taking the lead, you might reach as high as 40:1 in the extreme cases (closer to 20:1 more generally) with prostate cancer incidence high. There might be many confounding factors for Japanese men (soy consumption?) but I believe a high ratio and increased inflammation is a strong factor.

 

 

 

 

Not only inflammation, but AA is converted in the cyclooxygenase-enyzme (COX) into PGE2. PGE2 stimulates aromatase which increases estradiol. Estradiol stimulates the growth of prostate-tissue and also increases COX, leading to a vicious prostaglandin-inflammation-estrogenic cycle.

 

PGE3 which is synthesized by eicosapaentanoic-acid (EPA) does not stimulate aromatase and it much less inflammatory. The Japanese people ate very-low omega-6 diets. So did America back in the early 1900's.

 

My current regimen:

#1 Low omega-6 diet (both AA and LA)

#2 Aspirin (to lower PGE2 and aromatase)

#3 Three grams of fish-oil per week (3000mg of EPA + DHA)

 

 


Edited by misterE, 29 February 2016 - 08:46 PM.

  • Informative x 1
  • like x 1





Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: chia, hemp, seeds, flax, omegas, fatty acids, omega fatty acids, fish oil, omega 3, omega 6

1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users