DITCH the fish NOT omega 3
Dr Justine Butler, senior health researcher and writer at Viva!Health, reports
Some people who give up eating meat continue to eat fish in the belief that it is a healthy food and that fishing is less cruel and environmentally destructive than farming. Nothing could be further from the truth.
OMEGA-3S EXPLAINED…
Saturated fats, like lard and butter, tend to be solid. Our bodies don’t need this type of unhealthy fat. It increases cholesterol levels and is linked to heart disease. Unsaturated fats (olive oil and rapeseed oil) are liquid and it’s the flexible nature of these fats that makes them so biologically useful in fish swimming in cold water or in the human eye and brain.
Essential fatty acids (EFA) are unsaturated fats that we can’t make in the body; we must get them from food. They are used in our cell membranes, brain and nervous system and help regulate blood pressure, blood-clotting, immune and inflammatory responses.
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is an omega-3 EFA found in flaxseeds (linseeds), rapeseeds, soya, walnuts and oils made from them. ALA can be converted in the body into the longerchain omega-3s: eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA are also found in oily fish such as herring, salmon and mackerel as well as some algal supplements (which are suitable for vegans). Conversion rates in the body can be low which is why some people insist that fish oils are essential for heart and brain health. The research tells a different story…