Stick with plain omega 3s and avoid the omega “3-6-9 supplements

While reading a blog by Margaret Furtado on Yahoo health I came across her list of key actions for an anti-inflammatory weight loss diet. Some where good and some were not. But the one that struck me as one that you should hear was as follows:

Make sure you’re ingesting a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, such as fatty fish, fish-oil supplements, and walnuts. (And by the way, stick with plain omega 3s and avoid the omega “3-6-9? supplements. It turns out that the omega-6s might actually be inflammatory, while omega-9 can be readily gotten from the foods you eat.)

Here’s my caveat.

While there is lots of false buzz about it, eating omega-6 fats as part of a Naked Nutrition approved diet won’t increase levels of inflammation (it will acutally help lower it). Check out my article about omega-6 fats and inflammation for more on that topic. That being said Margaret’s point about omega 3-6-9 supplements being a rip off is dead on. Omega-6 fats are readily availble in your diet if you are eating nuts and using oils (like canola or even olive oil) in your cooking. Omega-9 fats are just another word for monounsaturated fats like the ones found in olive oil, avocados, and macadamium nuts. There is NO need to be paying to supplement these in your diet.

One side point that I also wanted to make, as it is a big area of misconception, is that in her list Margaret also says:

Eat lean protein sources (e.g. skinless chicken) while decreasing your consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy products.

Read Met is a vague term that can describe foods ranging from spam to filet mingon. Eating lean beef (top round, flank steak, filet migon, 95% lean ground beef) will not increase your levels of inflammation. The science just doesn’t support this. I can tell you from my own PhD research that in some cases we had people eating upwards of 7oz of lean beef per day with zero changes in markers of inflammation. Processed and cured meats are a different story and should be limited. Don’t pass on flank steak and opt for chicken because you are worried about the negative health consequences of eating lean beef, they just aren’t there.

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