Omega-3 fatty acids have been getting a lot of media play over the past few years. Almost exclusively associated with how they’re linked to ‘good’ cholesterol and fighting cardiovascular disease. Did you know there’s a global shortage of Omega-3s?
… And that’s more than just a passing concern for nutritionists and heart doctors.
“This has serious and widespread health implications,” said Timothy Ciesielski, a research scientist in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve’s School of Medicine, who led the study.
“Our current food systems are not providing enough uncontaminated Omega-3,” says Dr Timothy Ciesielski, a research scientist in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine. “And our access is expected to decrease in the near future.”
More than just stroke and heart attack
Increasing Omega-3 intake can lower the risk of a wide range of diseases related to chronic inflam-mation, such as heart disease, cancer, preterm birth and some mental-health issues, Ciesielski points out.
One complicating issue has always been that our bodies can’t produce enough Omega-3 to meet our needs. Most dietary Omega-3 we could access comes fish and plants. But those sources have lately been under intense and increasing pressure from ‘environmental factors — rising ocean temper-atures, overfishing and pollution’.
What they found
A team led by Ciesielski recently surveyed the health records of patients from a wide variety of countries and cultures. They quickly determined that 85 percent of the world’s population doesn’t get enough Omega-3 in their diets.
What do we do?
“Historically, humans consumed diets with balanced amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids,” Ciesielski notes. But Omega-6s are as bad for us as Omega-3s are good for us. And these days, we’re getting up to 20 times more Omega-6s than Omega-3s, mainly from processed foods which already make up about 3/4 of our North American diets.
The takeaway
“This isn’t just a healthcare issue; it’s a public health and environmental challenge,” Ciesielski warns. “Everyone should have the right to uncontaminated Oomega-3s in their diet. These are important questions that require our collective attention and action. ”
Those questions include how to provide sufficient Omega-3s to make up the shortage without gov-ernments stepping in and mandating the production of more of these nutrients as supplements, at prices the masses can afford…
~ Maggie J.