Tuned in to nutrition with Radio Nutrition

Are omega-3 fats the solution to obesity? That’s the gist of an editorial published in a recent edition of Open Heart/British Medical Journal.  The authors, Artemis Simopoulos MD and James DiNicolantonio, PharmD argue that processed food and industrial agriculture have changed the fatty acid balance in our diets, drastically increasing consumption of omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable oils, while decreasing omega-3 intake. Omega-3 fatty acids are concentrated in a few foods like fatty fish, flax seed and walnuts.  Long ago, animal-sourced foods, from meat to eggs to dairy foods, would also have contained some omega-3 fats if the animals grazed on plants that had those.  Processed foods didn’t exist.  High omega-6 vegetable and seed oils were not in wide use.  According to the authors, the omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio in our diets has gone from roughly 1:1 to 16:1 as a direct result of increased consumption of omega-6-rich vegetable oils by humans, and use of omega-6-rich grains, like corn and soy, to feed livestock. So why is high omega-6 intake a bad thing?  The editorial includes a table that compares the different metabolic effects of omega-6 vs. omega-3 fatty acids.  For all of the 20 systems listed, these two fatty acid types have opposing effects.  For example: Omega-3: decreases fat cells, inflammation, triglycerides and insulin resistance Omega-6: increases all of the above. The authors argue that omega-6 fatty acids fundamentally change human metabolism, increasing inflammation, insulin resistance, fat storage and triglycerides.  They point to studies linking higher blood levels of omega-6 fatty acids with weight gain.  Worse, some people are genetically predisposed to be especially sensitive to a high omega-6 intake, exacerbating the adverse effects. The argument about omega-6 vs omega-3 fats sounds pretty simple and compelling.  But keep in mind, many other things have changed about our diets and lifestyle.  According to another chart included with the article, we’re eating more total fat and saturated fat.  Plus we’re eating more salt and refined sugar, and we’re much more sedentary.  And we’re just now starting to appreciate the effects of the gut microbiome on health and metabolism.  Eating a more processed and refined diet, with less fiber and fewer whole foods has certainly impacted the balance of gut microbes. It’s not about pills This editorial doesn’t suggest that adding a few fish oil pills to your daily diet is going to make a difference.  Changing the ratio of omega-6-to-omega-3 fats is about changing your whole diet to reduce your intake of omega-6 fats from vegetable oils and meats.  Omega-6 fats predominate because our entire food supply has changed drastically over the past 100-odd years, from one based mostly on simple whole foods to one based on processed foods.  Particularly foods made with or cooked in vegetable oils: chips, fries, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, pastries, pies, crackers, snack foods, margarine, shortening, breaded foods, fried foods, snack/granola bars, sauces and gravies, mayonnaise, and … whew!   This list could go on and on. So how does this translate into actual food choices?  If you can’t eat all that stuff, what’s left?  It’s probably not practical to attempt to eat a diet with a 1:1 O6:O3 fatty acid ratio.  Even in Japan — where high omega-3 fish are a dietary mainstay — the ratio is around 4:1.  Here are some steps you can take to reduce your consumption of omega-6 fats. * Use canola oil instead of ...

Our First impressions Neither of us is big MickyD’s users. Neither of us has been there in years. We were both struck by the long line of cars waiting for the drive-thru.  People don’t get out of their cars anymore (same thing at local Starbucks). The menu board is electronic and the listings scroll quickly.  Calories are listed by each item in the same font size as the prices — good.  But the color is lighter, and there’s a vertical bar separating the price and kcal numbers.  It’s the same color as the calories, and at first we thought the bar was the number “1”, making some of the items 1400 calories.  Oops.  Calorie problems * 2-pick for $5 – the monetary “cost savings” comes with a big calorie and sodium load if you eat both sandwiches.  Go with a friend and eat only one, it’s more of a deal and fewer calories.  The picks are not the healthier options – so pick wisely.   * Quarter Pounder with Cheese (540 kcal) * Chicken McNuggets 10 piece (440 kcal without sauce, add 40-90 kcal depending upon type, Ranch styles being highest) * Filet of Fish (390 kcal) * Triple Cheeseburger (520 kcal) * Coffee drinks with loads of added fat & sugar, milkshakes, and soft drinks.   * Value Meals – you add $2 to get medium fries & medium drink added to the order.  That means adding an extra 560 kcal if you eat all of your fries and get a regular soda (or sweet tea). * Medium fries: 340 kcal, 16g fat (0 trans), 44 g carbs, 230 mg sodium (ketchup adds 10 kcal, 2 g carbs) * Medium regular soft drink:  220 kcal, 59 g carbs  Sweet tea: 240 kcal, 62g carbs Better to order a single sandwich  and add 1 salad with LF balsamic vinaigrette – just a little less expensive but only 50 kcal (and minimal carbs) added to meal.  A much better choice for people trying to lose weight or for folks with diabetes trying to control meal carbs.  By the way we thought the side salad looked really nice, fresh and not loaded up with extraneous croutons and grated cheese. What we got today: Donna: Buttermilk Crispy Chicken sandwich Value Meal with medium fries & iced tea = $7.69. With regular pop & all fries consumed:  1150 kcal, 40 g fat, 32 g protein, 169 g carbs (I just ate the chicken out of the sandwich and had a few french fries). Kathy: Grilled Artisan Chicken Sandwich + Side Salad + 1 LF Balsamic Vinaigrette by Newman’s Own = $6.81 440 kcal, 8g fat, 38 g protein, 53 g carbs Sandwich with default condiments (nothing added):  380 kcal, 6 g fat, 37 g protein, 44 g carbs, 960 mg sodium. Salad + LF Balsamic vinaigrette dressing: 50 kcal, 2 g fat, 1g pro, 9g carbs, 420 mg sodium Kathy felt that her sandwich and salad were very filling.  She typically gets hungry an hour later, but texted 4 hours later “I am still satisfied.  I am pleasantly surprised. The sodium is a nightmare but I’ll adjust my food choices around the huge load at lunch.” There was still a long line of cars creeping through the drive thru windows when we left. Bottom Line It’s fast food.  Choice is good and McDonald’s is adding healthier options.  And, as Kathy notes, the 59 cent ice cream cone is small.  Just enough dessert, not a huge portion.

In-N-Out Burger has been about nothing but burgers since 1945.  Now they’re being badgered bullied petitioned to add a vegetarian burger to the menu.  It’s 2016.  Sounds like a 21st Century food no-brainer, right?  Actually not. Like other restaurants, fast food or not, In-N-Out Burger is a business.  The successful business model is about beef burgers, with or without cheese, on a bun (or not*), french fries, with condiments and drinks.  Period.  No salads or yogurt parfaits or chicken nuggets or fried fish.  Very simple.  There are hundreds of stores throughout the Western US.  So if you go to In-N-Out Burger, you go there to get a burger.  You don’t go there and demand a grilled chicken salad. At the moment, the only meatless option at In-N-Out burger is basically a grilled cheese (cheeseburger minus the burger).  But that’s not good enough for some people, who feel entitled to go there and demand a vegetarian burger.  According to the petition: “If you want a meat-free meal at In-N-Out, you’re going to be stuck eating multiple orders of French fries or a cheese-slathered bun” To which a sensible person would reply: So don’t go there. Having written a book for vegetarian/vegan teens, what could I find wrong with this demand?  First of all that it’s a bullying demand.  We’re talking about a business, not some government entity.  Businesses exist to sell products to their customer base.  If you’re a vegetarian, you aren’t one of In-N-Out Burger’s targeted customers.  They’re under no obligation to serve you a veggie burger or yogurt parfait or salad.  And you, as a consumer, are free to patronize businesses that meet your needs and sell products you want. Second, having included recipes for bean burgers in my book, I know how tricky it is to make those work.  It’s one thing to take the time at home to prepare and cook a meatless burger.  It’s quite another to deal with them in a fast food production line, where orders have to go out quickly and be absolutely consistent from one burger to the next.  The people who work in restaurants like that aren’t highly trained chefs, and even if they were they simply don’t have the time to spend fussing with each veggie burger. One solution would be for burger restaurants to just buy frozen soy burgers from some other supplier.  It would be easy to do, but your meatless burger wouldn’t be anything special or unique to your restaurant.  I don’t particularly like any of them, especially because getting a soy bean or other plant material to end up looking and tasting vaguely like beef takes a whole lot of processing.  Plus I’m not sure this would even be considered, since In-N-Out Burger’s food quality policy is all about fresh food.  Buying frozen soy burgers from some distant supplier probably doesn’t fit that image. In-N-Out Burger could start developing a signature veggie burger recipe, one that uses some combination of beans and cooked grains, hopefully with as few weird additives as possible, that holds up to the rigors of a fast food kitchen production line, that also tastes good.  Smashburger has a black bean burger* that is quite nice.  Somehow that company figured out how to make it work. So it’s not impossible.  And I sympathize with some of the pro-veggie-burger people who note that if a group with one vegetarian goes to In-N-Out Burger, the vegetarian doesn’t have any options except that grilled cheese bun.

The German Nutrition Society is taking a firm stand on the suitability of vegan diets for infants, children, teens and pregnant/lactating women.  That position is “Not recommended”. With a pure plant-based diet, it is difficult or impossible to attain an adequate supply of some nutrients. The most critical nutrient is vitamin B12. Other potentially critical nutrients .. include protein, .. long-chain n-3 fatty acids, .. riboflavin, vitamin D,…calcium, iron, iodine, zinc and selenium. The DGE does not recommend a vegan diet for pregnant women, lactating women, infants, children or adolescents. The Society goes on to advise that anyone on a vegan diet should take B12 supplements and possibly others, depending on how well planned the diet is for nutritional balance.  Vegetarians, by comparison, would get B12 (as well as protein, calcium, iron, zinc, etc) from milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs.  This recommendation applies only to vegan diets. So is this a valid concern?  Yes it is.  B12 is impossible to get from plant sources.  It’s only found in animal-derived foods, unless it has been added to plant-based foods.  And it’s critically important for dozens of metabolic systems, from red blood cells to energy production to digestion to nerve and brain function.  Raising a B12-deficient infant or child is a recipe for disaster.  Italy has seen a spate of critically ill B12 deficient children who were raised vegan, and one lawmaker has proposed a ban on vegan diets for young children, with parents potentially facing criminal charges. Let’s look for some B12. Here’s the ingredients list for well-known Boca Vegan Burgers.  Oops, no B12. How about Tofutti American Cheese slices? No, no B12.  How about Rice Dream Rice Milk? Again, no added B12. Here’s another.  Field Roast Lentil Sage Deli Slices. Nope, no B12.           How about the famous Tofurkey company? Here’s the list for “smoked ham”, a very misleading name, since it has nothing to do with real ham.   No, again, no B12 added.  We’re really striking out here. Finally!   Silk Soy milk has B12. Kind of like adding a crushed vitamin supplement to the milk.  You could just take a supplement in pill form.  And in fact, that’s what the German Nutrition Society recommends.  Given the widespread lack of B12 fortification of these vegan foods, I think they’ve got a point. Take Away Message If you’re an informed adult and you want to be vegan, fine.  You need B12, too, so pay attention to the ingredients in your foods, or take a supplement.  Most multi-vitamins have B12.  There are also B12 supplements, although most have extremely high doses, so taking just the right amount (2.4 micrograms/day for adults) is tricky when the tablet has 500 micrograms.

We’re big fans of exercise, particularly walking.  “Exercise,” as portrayed in the media and advertisements, is a sweaty activity that is made to look repetitive, stressful, not fun and probably expensive (all the special clothes and equipment).   Walking, on the other hand, can be integrated into daily life and doesn’t require special clothes.  You don’t even have to sweat. Health benefits of walking include lowered disease risk and stress reduction, not to mention a bit of calorie burning. A Stanford University cardiologist is gathering data from an app on volunteers’ smart phones to track activity patterns.  The goal: to discover ways to fight disease with physical movement.  One early finding: we’re sitting around more than we admit.  The widespread 10,000 steps-a-day recommendation, which adds up to roughly 5 miles, is more than minimum 30 minutes a day recommendation.  Apparently most of us aren’t even getting that. Which brings up the issue of the walkability of our environment, which Donna and Kathy discuss in the podcast.  WalkScore rates neighborhoods on walkability, which means using walking for transportation, which is a really effective way to integrate walking (activity) into daily life.  Looking for more ideas?  This Harvard Med School newsletter article has more tips.  That article was written before the Pokemon Go craze, which apparently caused a surge in step tracker step counts.  Meaning people were walking more while playing the game.  And they didn’t even have to put on special “exercise” clothes to do it.

No energy?  Feeling dragged out?  Registered dietitian Dr. Jo Lichten may have the answer for you.  Her latest book, Dr. Jo’s Reboot, is a guide to improving your energy level through diet, exercise, sleep and stress management.  I spoke with Jo recently, and her enthusiasm comes across clearly in the podcast.  We discuss how sleep impacts diet, how eating affects exercise and how people can identify which indulgent foods are really worth the calorie budget. Jo’s enthusiastic writing style alone might build up your energy level.  The book is full of practical ideas for making changes, along with evidence-based explanations for why those changes are recommended. She also has a YouTube channel, with plenty of videos that address many of her Reboot ideas along with other diet and health topics, so be sure to check it out.

Magical thinking gets in the way of health. Here’s one thing we agree on: magical thinking about diet and health is counter-productive.  Here’s an example: “I’m not eating enough to lose weight.” This statement makes absolutely no sense whatsoever when it comes to dieting.  It’s sometimes referred to as “starvation mode”, meaning now that you’re eating so few calories your metabolism has slowed down so much that you won’t lose anymore weight.  There’s no evidence for this belief, but there’s plenty of historical evidence that weight loss does indeed keep on going during starvation, with dire consequences.  If you’ve reached a weight loss plateau, eating more food isn’t going to help.  Quite the opposite. Yet this is a popular magical idea among dieters and even some health professionals. Another example: “Supplement X or Super Food Y will cause you to lose weight.” Or: “My metabolism is really special and I can’t eat more than 800 calories or I gain weight.” As Kathy points out, there’s an easy way to challenge this: get your metabolism tested.  She also wonders why people always pick the number 800 as their supposed calorie limit. Magical thinking is a good way to set yourself up for dieting failure.  Since the magical idea isn’t going to produce results, it’s easy for you to give up.  Our advice: don’t do it, but of course that may be easier said then done.

The anti-GMO crowd isn’t likely to be swayed by the conclusion of a new report from the National Academy of Sciences: foods made with genetic technology are safe.  GMO crops have been grown in the US and Canada for 20 years.  European farmers do not use GMO crops, so the National Academy of Sciences compared rates of a variety of human diseases between the US/Canada and Europe.  Back in the 1990’s, when GMO foods were first introduced, the fear-mongers warned of disease epidemics caused by these genetically engineered foods. According to their dire predictions, 20+ years later, we should be seeing skyrocketing rates of cancers and other diseases compared to Europe.  In fact the exhaustive 400+ page report, done by scientists, found nothing of the kind: The committee found no evidence of differences between the data from the United Kingdom and western Europe and the data from the United States and Canada in the long-term pattern of increase or decrease in specific health problems after the introduction of GE foods in the 1990s….Patterns of change in cancer incidence in the United States and Canada are generally similar to those in the United Kingdom and western Europe, where diets contain much lower amounts of food derived from GE crops. GMO opponents probably smell a conspiracy of Big Government and Big Agriculture and Big Anything Else to cover up the disease epidemic that surely exists.  Their campaign to pursue cumbersome state-by-state food labeling laws for GMO content will certainly go on.  It’s an interesting phenomenon.  Previous to the introduction of genetically engineered plants, the same crowd was all about organic food, claiming organic foods were the path to health purity.  Then large corporations co-opted organic food, and it wasn’t so special and elitist anymore.  Now Wal-Mart and Costco sell organic, and big food companies are churning out organic junk food and soft drinks, which consumers buy because they think ‘organic’ makes chips and soda pop healthy.   Meanwhile plenty of foods now have little ‘non-GMO’ badges, along with the organic badge, the gluten-free badge and so forth.  Does that make the foods safer?  Not according to the National Academy of Sciences, which is run by actual scientists. Genetically Modified Organism refers to plants and animals bred using gene technology, as opposed to selective breeding, which has been going on for thousands of years.  Humans used selective breeding to increase agricultural output, or just to create plants and animals we like.  For example, without selective breeding, we’d have just 1 or 2 types of dogs.  But over millennia, humans have chosen dogs with particular traits they liked, and bred more dogs for those traits. 21st Century genetic technology is used to insert genes into the DNA of a plant or animal to confer a benefit not normally found in that plant or animal.  Plant gene technology can confer resistance to diseases or insect pests.  Farmers can grow the crop without having to dump tons of pesticides or fungicides on the plants.  Typically the inserted genes come from some other organism, which is what concerns GMO opponents.  They fear that the introduced genes will create unexpected problems, such as the increased rates of cancer and other chronic diseases that were predicted but didn’t pan out. Contrary to popular misconception, GMOs are not: * additives * toxins * pesticides * contaminants GMO is the actual food source, but where exactly are we likely to

We love Thai food! Thai cuisine has plenty of options that are healthy and friendly to people concerned about calories.  But diners need to use common sense when ordering.  Most Thai restaurants are locally owned, and so recipes, ingredients and menu listings will vary considerably from one to another.  One restaurant’s Pad Thai may be dramatically different from another in both ingredients and portion size. We picked a variety of items: * Som Tum: shredded papaya salad * Larb: minced pork salad seasoned with mint * Tom Yum soup with mushrooms * Pumpkin curry with tofu * Pad Thai with shrimp * Rama with chicken The soup, larb and papaya salad were delightful, and we agreed these would make a filling and healthy meal by themselves.  We love pumpkin curry, but caution people that curries made with coconut milk are high calorie.  Then there’s the rice that comes on the side.  We ended up with over 1 lb of cooked rice.  Unless you need extra calories, that’s a lot.  Kathy suggests asking for brown rice, if it’s available, and definitely avoiding the fried rice option. Sodium in Asian foods can be high, thanks to seasonings like fish sauce and soy sauce.  Fish sauce is a common seasoning in Thai recipes, and can add considerable sodium if used in large amounts.  We didn’t think our dishes tasted especially salty, but these dishes might be prepared differently at different restaurants. Good points: * Lots of vegetables included in dishes * intense satisfying flavors * low calorie options Caution advised: * high calorie potential from coconut curries and fried foods * potential for high sodium * high calorie/high carb items like noodle dishes and rice Another calorie pitfall: giant sugar-sweetened iced tea and coffee drinks.  Choose plain tea instead. Here are some fun reads on Thai food: What to eat at a Thai food restaurant 21 Healthy Thai Foods

The media manages to misinterpret research yet again. So you’ve been eating a more plant-based diet thinking it was healthy? And along comes the onslaught of scary headlines in recent days.  Vegetarian diets cause cancer!  Really?  I had to check it out, starting at the source, the original research from the research group led by Dr. Tom Brenna, noted omega-3 fatty acid expert. Here’s the title of his study, published in the research journal Molecular Biology and Evolution: Positive selection on a regulatory insertion-deletion polymorphism in FADS2 influences apparent endogenous synthesis of arachidonic acid Whoa!  That’s a mouthful.  How did it morph into this gloomy headline from The Times of India: Long-term vegetarian diet could increase cancer, heart disease risk or this more cheerful headline from The Washington Post: Cornell study finds some people may be genetically programmed to be vegetarians Good question.  Headlines in the main stream media, are aimed at a readership that isn’t well versed in the intricacies of nutritional science and genetic technology.  Headlines also need to grab readers’ attention quickly.  And unfortunately many readers don’t go beyond the headline, in which case you might conclude that a vegetarian diet causes cancer, and that some people can’t help being vegetarian (even if it causes cancer).  You’d be wrong on both counts. The two part study is pretty complex, but I’m going to try to pare the findings down to something understandable.  Here are some basics premises: * Long chain omega-3 fats (EPA and DHA) are found only in animal-sourced foods. These fatty acids are essential to numerous metabolic systems and are inherent parts of the structure of cell membranes and other tissues.  They also have anti-inflammatory properties. * Plant foods contain the short chain omega-3 fat alpha linolenic acid (ALA), which humans can convert — at a low rate — to EPA and DHA. * Plant foods are also high in the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid (LA).  LA is converted to the long chain omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid (ARA), which plays a role in inflammation, among other things. * Inflammation is a natural and essential body process, but excess inflammation is suspected of causing a host of problems, like heart disease and cancer. So far so good.  Now we get to the interesting part.  The researchers knew that certain populations in India have a very long history of a vegetarian diet.  How have those people managed to obtain sufficient long chain omega-3 fats — DHA and EPA — to sustain health?  Could there be a genetic connection?  The team compared genes of 234 people of Indian ancestry to 311 people of American ancestry.  Result: compared to Americans, the Indians had a genetic variation that ramped up conversion of LA and ALA to long chain fatty acids like EPA, DHA and ARA.  In other words, over hundreds of generations of a vegetarian diet, people with that genetic variation had better prospects for health and reproduction.  They evolved to thrive on a vegetarian diet.  In fact, this genetic variation is common in East Asia and Africa, too. This sounds like a good thing.  People have adapted to produce more of a necessary fatty acid ...

Chia seeds are promoted as a health food.  Is it a valid claim? Like flax, chia is high fiber and has significant omega-3 fatty acid content. It’s also a reasonably good source of iron and magnesium. Unlike flax, it’s easier to digest, and has a very neutral flavor.  The seeds absorb a lot of water, so you don’t have to chew them much.  Kathy likes to add chia seeds to yogurt, and says it helps to curb hunger.  One tablespoon added to a cup of yogurt can hold her for 3 hours, eliminating the need for between meal snacks. We both thought the best serving size was 1 tablespoon, not 1/4 cup (4 TB) recommended on some packages.  That amount could cause some people stomach upset.  A tablespoon has about: * 58 kcal * 2 g pro * 3.7 g fat (significant omega-3) * 5 g carbs * 4.1 g fiber * 1 mg iron * 40 mg magnesium * 76 mg calcium * as well as B vitamins and vitamin K Kathy recommends letting the chia seeds sit for about 10 minutes after adding to yogurt or some other moist food. Other uses: * add to smoothies * sprinkle on oatmeal or hot cereals * use to make pudding without cornstarch or other thickeners. The thickening comes from the chia gel You can also use chia gel in cooking in place of eggs, especially helpful for vegans or people allergic to eggs. Kathy loved this recipe for chia pudding made with coconut milk.  Here’s another for pudding made with milk.   Here’s her technique for adding to oatmeal: 1 cup plain rolled oats cooked with 2 cups of plain water. Take pot off burner and add 2 tablespoons of chia to oatmeal. Stir, cover, and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Add sweetener or spices as desired. The texture was great and better than just cooked rolled oats. Our Bottom Line: Chia is a great source of fiber and omega-3 fats, easy to digest, with a neutral flavor.  It absorbs water in moist foods, and can help curb appetite, which can help dieters control calories.  For more information, check out this blog post on chia and flax from intern Brooke Piraino, who provides a link to another pudding made with almond milk.

Post menopausal women are bombarded with messages to get more calcium.  They aren’t the only people who need to pay attention.  There’s increasing evidence that older men are also prone to thinning bones.  And of course pregnant or nursing women and growing children need adequate calcium Getting calcium from food is the best bet.  So how many high calcium foods are enough?  And what about supplements?  Listen in to find the answers.  And check out two recent blogs for more on calcium.  If you don’t like dairy foods, perhaps sardines should be on the menu.

  Health claims for omega-3 fats are numerous: inflammation, heart disease, eye health, brain health and cognition, infant health and development. Research does suggest beneficial effects, but some of the claims seem to exceed actual evidence.   The official Adequate Intake for omega-3 is 1.1 to 1.6 grams/day, described as the short chain alpha linolenic acid, of which 10% can come from long chain EPA and DHA. That calculates to 100-160 mg/day of those more biologically important omega-3 fatty acids.  The WHO recommends 250 mg/day.  There is no official optimal range of omega-3 in blood or any other tissues, so we don’t have any meaningful way to assess omega-3 status, or to link health benefits to any particular level. We make the point that, because there is no official daily recommended intake, omega-3 fat content of a food is not listed on the nutrition facts panel.  Food manufacturers can put “contains omega-3!” on food labels, if the food does contain some.  They can even list the amount per serving.  But if you don’t understand what a meaningful intake would be, you might not understand that a food with 5 mg of omega-3 isn’t a significant source. The official stance of the US Dietary Guidelines and other professional organizations (such as the American Heart Association) is that everyone should eat two servings a week of high omega-3 fish, such as: 3 oz                       mg EPA+DHA Atlantic farmed salmon       1.82 Atlantic wild salmon         1.56 Sockeye salmon                1.05 Chinook salmon                1.48 Pacific mackerel              1.57 Atlantic mackerel             1.02 Atlantic herring              1.71 canned Atlantic sardines      0.84 canned anchovies*             1.75 farmed Rainbow trout          0.98 wild Rainbow trout            0.84 canned white tuna             0.73 fresh Bluefin tuna            1.28 Bluefish                     0.84 Unfortunately, most of the fish on our menus is low omega-3 fish like shrimp or tilapia. The effect of omega-3 fats on brain function and cognition is a hot topic. Most of the research is short term, which might not give very meaningful data. There are some promising studies, and clearly more and better designed longer term studies are needed to clarify beneficial effects. Our bottom line: Getting omega-3 fats from food is only possible if you eat high omega-3 fish.  Plant sources only provide the shorter chain alpha linolenic acid, which is poorly converted to the biologically active EPA ad DHA.  Foods that are fortified with omega-3 aren’t likely to contain significant amounts.  Omega-3 fats aren’t called “fish oil” for nothing.  Milk or bread or cereal with a high omega-3 content would taste fishy, so food manufacturers can’t add to much of these important nutrients to novel foods. For more information: American Heart Association Eating Fish for Heart Health Research on the effect of B vitamins and omega-3 fats on brain function in elderly subjects A review of the evidence on omega-3 fats and heart disease *It’s not realistic to try to get a significant amount of omega-3 fats from canned anchovies.  One typical 2 ounce can only has about 1 ounce of actual anchovies.  You’d have to eat the anchovies in 3 cans, giving you a day’s worth of sodium along with your ome...

Nuts should be on your food radar screen.  Nutritional attributes like protein, healthy fats, minerals and vitamins make them a key part of plant-based diets, which are widely recommended for health benefits.  Plus nuts are delicious and convenient. Nut butters are also delicious and convenient.  Ideally, the nutritional profile of a nut butter is no different from the nut.  The butters are made by fine grinding nuts into a paste-like consistency.  Natural nut butters tend to separate over time, as the oils rise to the top of the container.  Perhaps to make nut butters more user-friendly, food manufacturers processed nut butters to keep them smooth and homogenous.  For example, peanut butter was hydrogenated so the oils would solidify, keeping the peanut butter an even consistency.  But health concerns about trans fats made hydrogenation less popular.  Some processed peanut butters are now made with added palm oil (harvested from tropical-rain-forest-destroying palm oil plantations). Peanut butter has dominated grocery shelves and sandwiches in the US for decades, but other nut butters are quickly taking over. Almond butter, cashew butter and tahini are now commonplace.  You can find even more exotic nut butters in some stores, or online.  I found Brazil nut, walnut, hazelnut, pumpkin seed, pistachio and even watermelon seed and hemp seed butters. How do they stack up nutritionally? Here are comparisons for 1 TB of nut butter*:             calories protein   fat    carb peanut       95      3.5 g  8.2 g 3.5 g cashew        94      2.8 g    7.9 g   4.4 g almond        98      3.3 g    8.9 g   3 g sesame        90      2.5 g   8 g    3 g sunflower     99      2.7 g    8.8 g   3.7 g Brazil nut    99      2.1 g   10 g   1.8 g walnut       110      2.4 g 10.4 g 2.2 g pecan        110      1.5 g   11 g    2.2 g pistachio     96      3.2 g    7.5 g   4.5 g hazelnut     110      2.5 g  10 g     3 g As you can see, they’re all very similar in terms of calories, protein and fats.  Walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts tend to be higher fat.  Peanuts, almonds and pistachios are higher protein.  But the differences are not large.  In general, nut butters are decent sources of magnesium, iron, niacin and vitamin E. They’re naturally low sodium and low sugar. When purchasing a nut butter, whether at the grocery store or online, be sure to check the ingredients list.  Many of the nut butters I found were not made purely from the nut listed on the front label.  Most of the walnut butters were actually blends of walnuts and cashews.  Same for pecan butters.  There are probably good reasons for this.  Walnuts and pecans are relatively high fat, and butters made just from the one nut might be too oily. So which one is “healthiest”? In their natural form, nut butters are similarly healthy, as you can see from the chart.  The nutritional concerns are mostly caused by added ingredients.  Sugar is widely added to peanut butter, although it’s completely unnecessary.  Salt is added to most nut butters, in varying amounts.  If you’re concerned about sodium intake, check the Nutrition Facts panel for sodium content, or buy one without added salt.  The other problem would be added fats or hydrogenation — which produces trans fats — for smooth consistency.  It’s not hard to mix separated oil into nut butter.  Just use a fork and stir gently from the bottom of the jar.  Nut butter that is relatively fresh will have little separation.  If you buy nut butter but don’t use it frequently, store it in the refrigerator.  The cold slows oil separation, and helps prevent oxidation of those healthy fats, which causes rancidity. The best choice?  It’s the nut butter(s) you enjoy, can find at the store (or online) and can afford.

Olive oil could be the star of The Year of Fat For years, we’ve been told that a low fat diet would reduce the risk for breast cancer.  Data from the PREDIMED study in Spain could turn that recommendation on its head.  The PREDIMED study was designed to examine the effects of a Mediterranean style diet on cardiovascular disease risk factors.  Subjects are assigned to one of 3 diets: * a Mediterranean style diet plus extra virgin olive oil * a Mediterranean style diet plus mixed nuts * a low fat control diet. While the main focus is cardiovascular disease, researchers also used the data to assess any effect of these diets on breast cancer risk.  As part of the study, over 4000 women aged 60-80 years old, were followed for 5 years for breast cancer incidence.  Compared to the low fat diet control group, the olive oil group had a 62% lower risk for breast cancer, while the mixed nut diet group had a 38% lower risk.  Conclusion: eating 15% or more of daily calories as olive oil had the most benefit. But the low fat mantra persists.  Consider this quote from BreastCancer.org: The large Women’s Health Initiative Trial compared the breast cancer risk of postmenopausal women who ate a low-fat diet to those who continued to eat their regular diet. The researchers didn’t find any significant differences in breast cancer risk between the two groups. Nevertheless, the conclusion is that a low fat diet is the better choice.  It seems researchers are determined to stigmatize fats, regardless of evidence.  Why? Keep in mind, the PREDIMED study is all about the Mediterranean diet plus olive oil and/or nuts.  The fats are plant-based.  It’s not about gorging on high fat meats or buttery pastries or ice cream.  Also, olive oil was not the only source of dietary fats.  Any meats or cheeses or other foods prepared with fat also contributed fat to the diet. What does 15% of calories as olive oil look like?  Let’s say you’re a woman with a daily intake of about 1600 calories total.  15% of that would be 240 calories, or about 2 tablespoons.  What are some ways you could consume that everyday? * One of the most efficient ways to include olive oil is to use it for salad dressing.  You might use 1/2 to 1 TB of olive oil on a large serving of tossed green salad. * Instead of buttering bread, dip it in olive oil seasoned with black pepper and herbs.  But be careful.  It’s really easy to soak up a lot of olive oil with bread. * Instead of using a non-stick pan, use olive oil to sauté vegetables. * Sauté potato slices in olive oil for breakfast or dinner. * Cook eggs in olive oil, rather than butter or (gah!) margarine. * Toss cooked pasta with olive oil before serving * Drizzle olive oil on cooked grains, such as rice. * Baste meats and fish with olive oil before grilling * Toss vegetables in olive oil before roasting. Good choices: potatoes, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, eggplant, etc. * When making tuna or egg salad, cut the mayonnaise with olive oil (roughly 1 part olive oil to 2 or 3 parts mayonnaise) * Substitute olive oil for shortening or butter when baking quick breads or muffins. If you used 2-4 of these food prep techniques everyday, you’d probably approximate 15% of calories as olive oil, possibly more.  But like any fat, it is high calorie.  You can’t add olive oil on top of a diet that’s already high in other fats, from meats, cheeses, desserts, spreads and fried foods.  The best strategy is to combine high fat olive oil...