
Polyunsaturated Fatty-Acids or PUFAs are the third type of fats the others being saturated and monounsaturated fats. PUFAs are very important fats which are also essential for our health, but we need to deep-dive a bit more and understand how best to incorporate them into our diet for optimal benefits.
This is because in the recent years our diet has changed quite a lot and unfortunately not for the better. This has mostly to do with the rapid increase of the world population and hence the demand for food. The transition from a hunter-gatherer diet to an agriculture based diet means that we rely more and more on grains and also to cheaper sources of food. This has actually been reflected to a huge increase in omega-6 industrial seed oils and at the same time a decrease of omega-3 fats (ALA, EPA, DHA). This balance turns out is one of key elements of health.
There are three type of fat saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. These words have to do with the chemical structure of the fatty acids.
There is a simple rule to differentiate them.
What is most important though is that stability of those fats under heat. Saturated fats have a higher smoking point and better suited than polyunsaturated fats which you want to avoid for cooking since they are highly oxidised when heated. We need to make a special notes on vegetables oils since they are very highly processed and should be avoided at all costs. The structure of PUFAs makes them less stable when exposed to heat. And while a small amount of PUFAs are necessary in our diets, too many of them (especially after they’ve been heated) can cause inflammation and set the stage for developing diseases like cancer.
Summary
Polyunsaturated fats though are essential for health and since the body can’t create them the amount needed we need to get these essential nutrients from food.
Omega-3 fats are a key family of polyunsaturated fats. There are three main omega-3s:
Omega-6 fats are also healthy unsaturated fats. Just like omega-3 fats, we need to get omega-6 fats from food in our diet. There are four types of omega-6 fats:
Healthy populations, such as in Japan, have a low omega 6:to:3 ratio of around 4:1 or less, which can be achieved on a diet of whole, unprocessed foods. However this ratio has been scewed in the last decades with the increase of demand for faster and cheeper food. This has given raise to processed oil and meat from animals that have been very poorly fed. Currently the ratio is closer to 20:1 for the average person mostly because of eating lower quality foods like fast food, processed packaged meat, grain fed meat and using low quality cooking oils.
Industrial seed oils are not as healthy as they are reported to be. In fact you should avoid them.
The point of attention here is Linoleic acid (LA), which although is considered essential it should comprise of only 1% of our total diet intake. However currently the average consumption is about 7 to 8 times that amount.
For this reasons many people, and myself personally, have issues when consuming too many nuts, and they should generally by avoided. It should be also noted that too much Linoleic acid is though to be mess up our satiety signalling and lead to overeating.
O3 are one of our bodies main anti-inflammatory components and is an essential fatty acid as it reduces inflammation and not only.
They’re key to the structure of every cell wall you have. They’re also an energy source and help keep your heart, lungs, blood vessels, and immune system working the way they should. Two crucial ones — EPA and DHA — are primarily found in certain fish. ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), another omega-3 fatty acid, is found in plant sources such as nuts and seeds.
DHA levels are especially high in retina (eye), brain, and sperm cells. Not only does your body need these fatty acids to function, they also deliver some big health benefits.
Some key notes here
Summary
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