The Natural Way To Get The Good Fatty Acids
Lets talk about Omega-3 & Omega-6, and how to get them the plant power way. First of all our body requires only two types of fat to function. These two types of fats are essential for our body because it can’t produce them itself. The fatty acids are called alfa-linolenic acid and linoleic acid, aka. Omega-3 & Omega-6.
Omega-3 & 6 fall under the category of poly-unsaturated fat. Other types of fat are mono-unsaturated fat and saturated fat.
Where n-6 is found in plants:
– Almost all vegetables
Where n-3 is found in plants:
– Soybeans
– Walnuts
– Chia seed
– Flax seed
Recommended intake pr. day for men and women is 2% of the daily energy intake. This is approximately 5 g. n-6 and 1 g. n-3 for women. For men it is approximately 6 g. n-6 and 1,6 g. n-3.
You could get your daily intake of n-3 by eating 6 g. of ground flaxseeds.
What are some of the properties of omega-3 & 6?
You might be wondering what these does for your body and why they are so important.
Some of the properties of n-3:
– Its anti-inflammatory ability and the ability to reduces coagulation tendency, which means that it thins out the blood. This is very helpful for people with high blood pressure.
– It reduces penetration and deposition of LDL cholesterol in the walls of the blood vessels. This means that the fat that clogs your arteries can easier be removed from your arteries.
Linoleic acid or n-6 is giving our cells energy.
The important thing is the ratios between Omega-3 & Omega-6. The optimal is 1:1 but with the typical western diet its around 15:1, which means 15 times as much n-6 than n-3. This information tells us that we should cut down on n-6 and higher the intake of n-3.
The reason for this huge ratio in the western diet is because meat, dairy and refined oils also contains n-6. Fried food and animal products are eaten in large amounts while nuts and seeds that contains n-3 is not nearly eaten at the same dosis.
If the balance is not right between n-3 and n-6 it can result in a lot of lifestyle diseases such as type-2-diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure.
It’s important to mention that you can’t just higer the dosis of n-3 to balance the two, you also need to lower and cut down on n-6. The reason for this is you only need a certain amount of fat in your diet.
Sources:
Clifton, P. Keogh, J (2017) A systematic review of the effect of dietary saturated and polyunsaturated fat on heart disease. Visited 02/12/20 URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29174025/
Fooddata.dk. Visited 02/12/20. URL:https://frida.fooddata.dk/food/149?
Nutritionfact.org (2011) Trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol: Tolerable upper intake of zero. Visited 02/12/20. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZrxS7v2FDA&feature=emb_rel_end&ab_channel=LowCarbDownUnder
