Omega-6, found in almost everything, is killing our kids | www.tucsoncitizen.com
Omega-6, found in almost everything, is killing our kids
DENNIS D. EMBRY, Ph.D.
More on oils and health: Omega-3 can fight depression in moms, kids
Something is happening to our kids, and it's killing them slowly.
It's increasing health-care costs and mental illness, it's hurting kids' IQ, it's contributing to the rise in childhood asthma and diabetes. It's made homicide rates five times higher than in other countries, and much more.
But you and your kids think this killer food is good because of advertising on TV in children's bedrooms.
Twenty percent of all calories each day now come from one food consumed by Americans, and 9 percent of the daily diet of Americans is food that inflames every cell in the body.
This mystery ingredient is in almost everything your child eats at school, at home, at fast-food and even "good" restaurants, at the neighbor's house, at grandmother's house, even at church socials.
It is not sugar, additives or wheat. What is this ingredient? It's called omega-6. No other children in the world consume so much of it. This item is relatively new even in the U.S., becoming a large part of our daily diet only since the mid-1970s.
Before World War II, it wasn't even in our diet.
But today, kids' food contains large quantities of omega-6, which damages brain and body.
Omega-6 competes against omega-3, the good fat needed in our brains and body.
What contains all this omega-6? Soybean oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and corn oil.
Your child consumes about 500 calories a day containing omega-6, coming from just one source: soybean oil.
Omega-6 is in almost all food your child eats: snacks, school food, salad dressings, frozen food, baked goods and all fast food.
It is even embedded in meat and poultry because of feed lots, unless you feed your child wild or grass-fed meats.
Omega-6 has replaced and competes against some key food your child needs to make brain cells and to create most essential brain chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine.
This food causes stress chemicals in your child to skyrocket and increases the inflammatory response all through the brain and body.
These chemical changes affect your child's mood, behavior and health.
[...]
Dr. Joe and others have figured out why our population has seen increases in heart disease, asthma, developmental disabilities, depression, bipolar disorder and even suicide: too much omega-6 (soybean oil) and not enough omega-3 (fish oil).
[...]
What families can do
If you want your child to live longer, be happier, smarter, healthier and better behaved, to do better in school, to have fewer problems such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease and a lower risk of mental health disorders, then you have some clear-cut choices:
• Cut back everything that contains soybean, cottonseed, corn, canola, sunflower and safflower oils containing omega-6. (Olive oil is not one of these oils.)
If the food is manufactured or purchased, chances are it contains omega-6 in soybean oil.
• Switch to range- or grass-fed meats. Presently, most chicken and beef are fed grain, which increases the omega-6. Take off the chicken skin, as it contains most of the omega-6.
• Increase your child's consumption of fresh fish. Fresh trout, salmon, tuna and similar fish are high in omega-3, the healthful ingredient.
• Consider giving fish-oil supplements: 1 to 2 grams a day of fish oil benefits health and behavior among adults and kids.
Consumer Reports has rated such supplements, which cost as little as $10 per year per child.
The less omega-6 your child consumes, the less omega-3 he or she needs. Flavored and highly distilled omega-3 (fish oil) are available for fussy children. Flaxseed oil is not a substitute.
Omega-6, found in almost everything, is killing our kids
DENNIS D. EMBRY, Ph.D.
More on oils and health: Omega-3 can fight depression in moms, kids
Something is happening to our kids, and it's killing them slowly.
It's increasing health-care costs and mental illness, it's hurting kids' IQ, it's contributing to the rise in childhood asthma and diabetes. It's made homicide rates five times higher than in other countries, and much more.
But you and your kids think this killer food is good because of advertising on TV in children's bedrooms.
Twenty percent of all calories each day now come from one food consumed by Americans, and 9 percent of the daily diet of Americans is food that inflames every cell in the body.
This mystery ingredient is in almost everything your child eats at school, at home, at fast-food and even "good" restaurants, at the neighbor's house, at grandmother's house, even at church socials.
It is not sugar, additives or wheat. What is this ingredient? It's called omega-6. No other children in the world consume so much of it. This item is relatively new even in the U.S., becoming a large part of our daily diet only since the mid-1970s.
Before World War II, it wasn't even in our diet.
But today, kids' food contains large quantities of omega-6, which damages brain and body.
Omega-6 competes against omega-3, the good fat needed in our brains and body.
What contains all this omega-6? Soybean oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and corn oil.
Your child consumes about 500 calories a day containing omega-6, coming from just one source: soybean oil.
Omega-6 is in almost all food your child eats: snacks, school food, salad dressings, frozen food, baked goods and all fast food.
It is even embedded in meat and poultry because of feed lots, unless you feed your child wild or grass-fed meats.
Omega-6 has replaced and competes against some key food your child needs to make brain cells and to create most essential brain chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine.
This food causes stress chemicals in your child to skyrocket and increases the inflammatory response all through the brain and body.
These chemical changes affect your child's mood, behavior and health.
[...]
Dr. Joe and others have figured out why our population has seen increases in heart disease, asthma, developmental disabilities, depression, bipolar disorder and even suicide: too much omega-6 (soybean oil) and not enough omega-3 (fish oil).
[...]
What families can do
If you want your child to live longer, be happier, smarter, healthier and better behaved, to do better in school, to have fewer problems such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease and a lower risk of mental health disorders, then you have some clear-cut choices:
• Cut back everything that contains soybean, cottonseed, corn, canola, sunflower and safflower oils containing omega-6. (Olive oil is not one of these oils.)
If the food is manufactured or purchased, chances are it contains omega-6 in soybean oil.
• Switch to range- or grass-fed meats. Presently, most chicken and beef are fed grain, which increases the omega-6. Take off the chicken skin, as it contains most of the omega-6.
• Increase your child's consumption of fresh fish. Fresh trout, salmon, tuna and similar fish are high in omega-3, the healthful ingredient.
• Consider giving fish-oil supplements: 1 to 2 grams a day of fish oil benefits health and behavior among adults and kids.
Consumer Reports has rated such supplements, which cost as little as $10 per year per child.
The less omega-6 your child consumes, the less omega-3 he or she needs. Flavored and highly distilled omega-3 (fish oil) are available for fussy children. Flaxseed oil is not a substitute.
Comments
Did you ever see pictures of soybeans or corn painted by cavemen?
Didn't think so.
High fructose corn syrup is bad stuff. As bad as sugar, possibly worse. The body can't use insulin to process fructose. Research coming out about high fructose corn syrup is inconclusive. But at the very best, it's as bad as sugar.
And that's very bad.
The script I operate off of is that things humans have eaten for millions of years are good, things we eat that are only decades old, and are made in factories, are probably bad for you.
It's simple!