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HEALTH
The Good Fat
By Gailon Totheroh
CBN News Health & Science Reporter
Author and noted nutrition writer Bill Sardi believes the effort to understand omega-3 fats has been long overdue.
During the 70 years since vitamin C was discovered, the antioxidant has gained a worldwide reputation. But scientists have taken a bit longer to unravel the
mystery of nutrients in oils. These nutrients are called essential fatty acids, and a group of them has gained special notoriety.
They are called omega-3 fats, also known as EPA and DHA, and research has increasingly illustrated that they are extremely important to physical and mental health.
Author and noted nutrition writer Bill Sardi believes the effort to understand omega-3 fats has been long overdue.
"It is the slowest discovery of mankind. Certainly, in 1929 the original studies done showing that if you took fats out of the diet of animals and humans,
there were skin problems that were the first symptoms, and then other disorders showing that it was essential for human life," Sardi said.
The problem is most people do not get this essential omega-3 fat anymore.
"A little bit of omega-3’s used to be in all of our wild game and meat, but has been taken out ‘cause we send them to slaughter and the
slaughterhouse feeds them corn to fatten them up — again omega-6’s — so it just eliminates virtually all of the omega-3’s," Sardi said.
And according to Sardi, that has led to one of the great nutritional deficiencies of our time.
"The history of this is we've taken it all away. And so therefore about 80 percent of the population is deficient, about 20 percent of the population we
can't even find any tissue levels of omega-3 fatty acids," he said.
And what about the two types of omega-3 fats — EPA and DHA?
"It's the DHA that's gotten the most of the attention, because it's the building block of the nervous system, it's the fat for the brain
— 60 percent or so of the brain is fat and it's that omega-3 DHA fat that we're looking for," Sardi explained.
Consumption of DHA fat leads to a number of health benefits.
"People who consume more EPA, but particularly DHA, have a reduced risk of Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, macular degeneration —
these nerve disorders where they need that fat to make the nerves work," Sardi said.
And while Americans have gone through kind of a fad of consuming fish oil, omega-3’s have once again gained our attention.
"We're rediscovering it now and so we see now some new reports, some fresh reports — British Broadcasting earlier in the year saying this could even
reverse joint disease, reduce the need for steroids in arthritic disorders," Sardi said. "And now we have the very convincing evidence from New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Circulation showing a dramatic reduction in sudden death heart attack if we can get enough of these fish oils in our diet."
Sardi emphasizes that while we need to get on the omega-3 trail, we should not forget our fruits and vegetables, some protein, and staying mostly away from
carbohydrates that have become so popular.
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