How To Find Whole Grains in Your Food

We all know that we should be eating more whole grains and less refined flour. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines advise that at least 50% of your daily grains should be whole grains. The goal is clear. The problem is how do you know whether you are getting enough whole grain in your diet?

Food labeling is confusing. In fact the food industry goes to great lengths to make it difficult for the consumer to understand the nutritional value of many foods. Iy is easy for them to mislead us. For example bread that is baked with wheat flour. This sounds good but all flour is wheat flour. The flour used may be white flour, refined flour or enriched with some vitamins and minerals. Yes it is wheat flour but not whole wheat and   certainly  not be whole grain.

A study from Harvard published in Public Health Nutrition looked at 545 grain products and reported that the most reliable way to determine the overall carbohydrate quality was to use the ratio of grams of total carbohydrate to grams of fiber. To qualify as whole grain the ratio should be about 10 to 1. To make the math easier multiply the grams of fiber in a product by 10. The result should be more than the grams of total carbohydrates.

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Do You Need To Take Supplements?

One of the most important questions in nutrition and certainly the most controversial is whether you need to take supplements. Almost weekly on the newscasts, in magazines and in newspapers you will find expert commentary for and against the need to take supplements. Those opposed state with conviction that there is absolutely no need to take any supplement or vitamin. They make the case that there is no evidence that you need more of those things then you can get from the food that you eat.

Those who are advocates for the need to supplement make a very strong case with two key points. The first is that most of us do not eat a balanced diet with adequate amounts of fruits, vegetables and good protein. For example in order to get an adequate amount of omega-3 fatty acids it is necessary to consume three servings of cold water fish a week. How many of us follow this advice? The American Dietetic Association estimates that only one in ten people eat the recommended number of fruits and vegetables.  Most of us eat the SAD (Standard American Diet) This diet is skewed toward a lot of white flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup and unhealthy fats. 59 per cent of the calories come from nutrient poor food sources.  In fact the food is so nutritionally depleted that many Americans are on the verge of serious vitamin deficiencies.

The second key point is that even if you follow the food pyramid and consume adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables, there is no assurance that the produce you eat was grown in soil that has not been depleted in nutrients by years of farming. We will present more evidence to prove this point in future blogs.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

How Much Fish Oil Do you Need? Part 3

We have discussed the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids and the importance of maintaining a healthy ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids.  Omega-6 fatty acids are found in almost all snack foods, baked goods, cereals, eggs nuts, poultry and most vegetable oils such as palm, canola, soy, sunflower and corn oil. This list includes so many of the foods that we eat daily.  You can understand why most of us are have such high levels of Omega-6l fatty acids and why our society is plagued by heart disease and inflammatory conditions.

On the other hand the sources of Omega-3 fatty acids is limited. The best source is fatty fish.  High on the list are anchovies, bluefish, carp, catfish, halibut, herring, lake trout, mackerel, pompano, salmon, striped sea bass, white tuna and whitefish.  Krill is also high in Omega-3 fatty acids.

There are some vegetable sources of the Omega-3 ALA. The most popular of these is flaxseed  The ALA  in flaxseed is converted in the body to the Omega-3 EHA; however, the process of conversion is inefficient and only 7 to 15% of the ALA  can be converted.

The problem is very clear and very simple.  Omega-6s are almost ubiquitous and we get  way too much in our daily life. There are few sources of Omega-3s and most of us do not eat two to three serving of fish a week. The answer is to take fish oil supplements.

When taking supplements or when eating fish we need to be aware of the possibility of ingesting too much mercury.  It is a contaminant in some fish especially bottom feeders. The same potential problem exists in fish oil supplements.  We recommend that you research carefully before buying.

There is no universal agreement on the amount of EHA and EPA to take. Most authorities recommend that you do not exceed 3 grams a day because higher doses increase the risk of bleeding. Remember that Omega-3 fatty acids reduce blood clotting. You should also consult your physician if you are on an aspirin regime or if you are taking other blood thinners. The other heath precaution that you should take is to decrease your intake of Omega-6 fatty acids.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Can Omega- 3 Fatty Acids Cause Prostate Cancer?

Before I discuss how much Omega-3 fatty acids you should take and what precautions you should take, I want to discuss a very important question.  Can fish oil in any form be a causative factor in the development of prostate cancer.  The news media recently have warned men to cut back on using fish oil because some doctors reported a higher risk of developing prostate cancer in men who had higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood plasma. This study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute July 2013. The investigators looked at blood samples from a large group of men and observed that those with the highest levels of Omega--3 fatty acids were more likely to develop prostate cancer than those with the lowest levels.

This is an example of drawing faulty conclusions from a study that was not properly designed to reach a meaningful conclusion. The information was drawn from a retrospective cohort design that was initially intended to study something completely different. A proper study design would have been to observe two identical groups of men. These men would need to be matched by age, eating habits, exercise habits, smoking and drinking habits and family history of no prostate cancer.  Once the groups were matched, one group would be instructed to take fish oil supplements and the other to not take these supplements. The groups would then be followed for at least ten years in order to determine whether there was a significant difference between the groups in the incidence of prostate cancer. This was not done.

A simpler way to determine whether there is a risk in having a higher level of omega-3s is to look at large populations. For example Japanese men until recently have lived in fish loving culture and have the highest levels of EPA and DHA. They also have some of the lowest rates of prostate cancer of any culture studied.

The famous American Will Rogers once said "Believe nothing that you read and only half of what you see." This study is a perfect example. I will continue taking my fish oil supplements daily.

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or visit our website at trienergetics.net

How Much Fish Oil Do You Need? Part 2

We have pointed out that omega 3 fatty acids are essential and that the body can produce only limited amounts. We have also pointed out that the imbalance in the ratio between omega 6 fatty acids and omega 3 fatty acids is a major health concern. This imbalance may be partly responsible for the high incidence of heart disease, strokes cancer and other inflammatory diseases in western societies.

Many claims have been made for the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. Some have stood up to careful examination, others have not.  For example omega 3 fatty acids have a number of potentially heart-healthy effects including reducing triglyceride levels, raising good cholesterol cholesterol (HDL) levels, reducing levels of homocysteine, reducing blood pressure, slowing the progression of atherosclerosis thereby preventing heart attacks and reducing the risk of sudden death due to cardiac irregularities.

These statements agree with a large study of generally healthy older adults (average age 74).  In this study those with the highest levels of omega-3s had a decreased risk of dying. In fact those with the highest levels were 27% less likely to die during the course of the study than those in the lowest 20%. They were also 40% less likely to have a heart attack.

In view of the fact that omega-3 fatty acids have a variety of other probable health benefits investigators have looked at specific diseases with mixed results. The list is large and includes arthritis and other inflammatory disease, cancer, age related cognitive decline, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, cystic fibrosis and osteoporosis. It is extremely difficult to design and get relevant information from complicated studies such as these and the results have been inconclusive. It is also not clear whether the investigators took into consideration the levels of omega-6 fatty acids and the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. We have pointed out the importance of this ratio.

In conclusion there is no doubt that omega-3 fatty acids play an important role in maintaining optimal health. Next we will discuss sources of omega-3s and optimal amounts to take.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net