Dr. Bob Arnot explains Omega 3 - Omega 6 Ratios....

Dr. Bob Article: June
Most of us know that we eat too many fats, sugars and junk carbohydrates, but how many of us know that we smother ourselves with omega-6 fats? These have an immediate and devastating effect on how we feel and how we perform. Why? Start with the nerve cells in our brain. Their lining is made out of fat. The body has a choice in making these linings; omega-6 fats or omega-3 fats. It will choose whichever you’ve eaten in the greatest quantity. Fascinating new research from Harvard focuses on how much better nerve cells work with omega-3 fatty acids. Nerve impulses are conducted far more effectively because the nerves are “slippery”. These nerve cells may also produce more neurotransmitters that make us feel good. This isn’t just theory, either. Study after study shows how well omega-3s work to make us feel better and are even used with depressed patients and those with bipolar illness. One key new avenue of research is depression prevention. Diet and omega-3s are a key part.

And it isn’t just the brain. In my #1 best seller, the Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, I explained how a breast duct cell becomes angry and hyper-responsive to estrogens if its lining is made of omega-6 fatty acids. Since estrogen can spur the growth of tumors, women at risk may want to limit their omega-6 content. The cell is far calmer and less responsive to estrogen with omega-3s in research done at UCLA. Excessive omega-6s also promote:

Cardiovascular disease
Cancer
Inflammation
Autoimmune diseases
Depression
The predominant way that omega-6s and omega-3s are expressed is through a ratio. As hunter gatherers, our ratio was pretty close to 1:1 However in the modern junk food diet, it might reach 40:1; that is 40 omega-6s to 1 omega-3. Ouch! No wonder we feel awful. The goal to shoot for is 3:1 which is considered close to ideal. Here are some other ratios and their effect on disease:

Heart disease: 70% decrease deaths with a ratio of 4:1 …after first heart attack
Breast Cancer: Lower risk with lower ratio… in women with breast cancer
Rheumatoid Arthritis: ratio of 2:1 suppressed inflammation
Asthma: 5:1 had a beneficial effect. Ratio of 10:1 had adverse consequences.
Colorectal cancer: A ratio of 2.5:1 reduced rectal cell proliferation
One reason that your clients, friends and relatives may take a scoop of Mila and have an OMG moment is that Mila so quickly and effectively gets omega-3s into your system and reverses the ratio. Other friends and clients may not. Why? They have completely doused their bodies with overwhelming amounts of omega-6 fatty acids and would need to cut back to feel the effect.

Let’s look at some practical examples. Below in the chart, you’ll see a day’s worth of omega-3s in an Aztec-Mila diet versus the omega-6s in a typical Western diet. As you’ll observe, just a tablespoon each of safflower, corn, peanut and soybean oil gives you an omega dose of nearly 28,000 mg! You could easily consume that in cooking, salad dressings and grilling a sandwich. If you look at the Aztec diet, only Mila can really reverse the course. Four scoops a day would give you nearly 20,000 mg of omega-3s. As you can see, the smartest move is to stop using vegetable oils and start taking a lot more Mila. This would have a stunning effect on your ratio, how you feel, and the level of inflammation in your body.

Aztec --- Omega-3 --- Western --- Omega-6

Mila --- 4915 --- Safflower oil --- 10073

Squash --- 189 --- Corn oil --- 7224

Pinto beans --- 185 --- Soybean oil --- 6807

Black beans --- 181 --- Peanut oil --- 4321

Taro --- 33 --- Cashews --- 2179

Guava --- 14 --- Tortilla --- 1553

Onions --- 6.4 --- Pancakes --- 1487

Green --- 5.4 --- Margarine --- 1111

Total --- 5528 --- Total --- 34755


So why not just take chia? Glad you asked! Whole chia delivers no omega-3s to the body or the brain? That’s right. New research shows that after consuming whole chia, virtually no ALA gets into the blood, nor is there any conversion to omega-3 called EPA. What has been clinically proven to work is Mila, which is the highest quality in the world, with a size and shape precisely milled for the greatest bioactivity.

So what do I do? I try to max out my ratio and get as close to 1:1 as possible. I take four scoops of Mila a day and avoid vegetable oils like the plague. The only exception is olive oil. One or two teaspoons on salads is a great addition. This is an omega-9 which is a healthy fat. I really feel the difference. On a recent airline flight, the only choice was a grilled sandwich. It was doused in omega-6 vegetable oils. I felt dreadful for the whole evening. Only a Mila smoothie brought me back.

Omega-3 research is at the cutting edge of disease prevention and remarkable good health. I make omega-3s a priority every day and feel terrific because of it. I like Mila in particular because it exerts a natural brake on how much gets into the brain. Mila allows you to rapidly and effectively increase the omega-3s throughout your body as ALA to affect inflammation. Some of the ALA is converted to EPA and DHA. With four scoops a day of Mila, this results in a decent amount of EPA and DHA, important for the brain and heart. Feel the best you ever have and bring your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio back to where it belongs!

Sources:

Wikipedia, “Omega-3 fatty acid,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid (accessed June 22, 2011).
Stanley Guan, “Omega-3 Fatty Acids, “http://sites.google.com/site/stanleyguansite/health/health-tips/omega-3-fatty-acids, (accessed June 22, 2011).