While the current trend is all about going vegan, the idea of eating meat (thanks to the horror stories about red meat) is rapidly diminishing. The health benefits of following a vegetarian or vegan diet can be tremendous! Learn about the top health benefits you can experience by becoming vegetarian. Observational cohort studies and a secondary prevention trial have shown an inverse association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular risk. The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation based on the dietary patterns of Greece, Southern Italy, France and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s. Omega- 3 Fatty Acid Recommendations for Vegetariansby Jack Norris, RD . There is also some evidence that they might be important for cognitive function or useful as a treatment for depression. There are three important omega- 3 fatty acids: ALA - alpha- linolenic acid; found in a wide range of foods. EPA - eicosapentaenoic acid; found mainly in fish. DHA - docosahexaenoic acid; found mainly in fish and seaweed The body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA. ALA is efficiently converted to EPA, but it may require large amounts of ALA to produce optimal amounts of DHA. A small amount of recent evidence has raised a concern that large amounts of ALA could be harmful to the eyes over the long term. Introduction to the Omega- 3 Fatty Acids. For our purposes, there are three important omega- 3 fatty acids: ALA is a short chain (1. It is found in small amounts in animal flesh. Most people tend to associate a vegan diet with being lean. And science backs that notion. In a study of 40,000 adults, Oxford University researchers found that meat. Average vegan diets tend to be deficient in three nutrients, whereas average omnivores tend, unfortunately, to be deficient in seven. There is some bad news, though. This is a great vegan take on the traditional meat based chili soup, with way more health benefits. It uses natural, plant based sources of protein. A number of my vegetarian clients have asked me whether or not their dogs can be vegetarians too. Their main concern is whether or not a meat-free diet is appropriate. It is found mostly in fatty fish, in small amounts. Some EPA is converted into series 3 eicosanoids. The human body. can produce EPA out of ALA and out of DHA. DHA is a long chain (2. It is found mostly in fatty fish, in small amounts. It is a major component of the gray matter of the. The body can convert EPA into DHA. All three of these omega- 3 fatty acids may prevent heart arrhythmias, though ALA has been studied. A chart showing the conversion pathways for the omega- 3 and omega- 6 fatty acids can be found in. Heart Disease. As of May 2. American Heart Association was still basing its omega- 3 fatty acid recommendations on its 2. Fish consumption, fish oil, omega- 3 fatty acids, and cardiovascular disease (3. Include oils and foods rich in alpha- linolenic acid (flaxseed, canola, and soybean oils; flaxseed and walnuts). The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University provides a good review of the literature in their article, Essential Fatty Acids. Vegetarians already have about a 2. EPA or DHA could further benefit them to any significant degree. The main concern is with the possibility of cognitive problems in vegetarians due to long- term DHA deficiency. Omega- 3s and Depression. A 2. 00. 7 meta- analysis from Taiwan (8) and a 2. Canada (9) found that supplementation with EPA and DHA improved depression, but a 2. UK (1. 0) found that it did not. There's some evidence that EPA may be more effective than DHA in treating depression (4. Omega- 3s and Cognition. One cross- sectional study found that higher omega- 3 status was associated with some aspects of better cognition. Low omega- 3 status was associated with lower brain mass equivalent to approximately two years of brain aging (4. Table 3. That provides lacto- ovo vegetarians with very small amounts of dietary EPA and DHA. Vegans who are not supplementing have an intake of essentially no EPA and DHA. Three studies have listed the amount of ALA intake for vegetarians (who were presumably not purposefully adding rich sources of ALA to their diets). See Table 3. Table 4. Vegans and vegetarians have been shown in many studies to have lower levels of long chain omega- 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) than meat eaters. Table 4 shows the results of some of these studies. The general trend is that lacto- ovo vegetarians and vegans have lower levels of EPA and DHA in their blood. One exception is the 2. UK study in which vegan women had, on average, higher DHA levels than even the fish- eaters. There were only 5 vegan women making the finding unlikely to be statistically significant; the average DHA level was 2. That means that one or two of the vegan women had very high levels of DHA but some had very low. The researchers didn't assess how long the vegans had been following their diet. Lower blood levels of EPA and, especially, DHA in vegetarians doesn't necessarily mean that they have lower levels of EPA or DHA in other tissues, but it is something to be careful about until more is known. Effects of Low EPA and DHA on Vegetarians. One of the main things that long chain omega- 3 fatty acids do, particularly EPA, is reduce blood clotting which protects against heart attacks. There have been some differences noted in blood clotting between vegetarians and meat- eaters. A 1. 99. 9 Chile study (1. In a follow- up 2. Chile study (4), vegetarians were given 7. EPA and 7. 00 mg DHA for 8 weeks. EPA went from . 2 to 1. DHA went from 1. 1 to 3. Some clotting factors did change, but bleeding time remained higher at 5 1/2 minutes. In a 1. 99. 2 UK study (1. Bleeding times were similar. Thus, of two studies that looked at these factors, vegetarians were doing worse than meat- eaters in one, but were basically the same in the other. In terms of depression and cognition, there has been no research on omega- 3s and vegetarians, but Joel Fuhrman, MD, has a private practice seeing many long- term vegans and has observed some older vegan men with very low DHA levels and cognitive problems, so there is reason to be prudent regarding DHA in older vegans, especially men (link). To bolster this theory, here is an excerpt from a paper on DHA and Alzheimer's Disease: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a dietary essential omega- 3 fatty acid concentrated in membrane phospholipids at synapses and in retinal photoreceptors is decreased in . This deficiency may be due to enhanced free radical–mediated lipid peroxidation, decreased dietary intake, and/or impaired liver DHA shuttling to the brain. Decreased DHA serum content correlates with cognitive impairment. Low heart rate variability reflects a reduced capacity for the heart to respond to the body’s physiological demands and is linked to increased risk for heart disease. As expected, the vegans had lower concentrations of DHA and EPA in both red blood cells and plasma. While vegans had a higher heart rate variability over a 2. It's not clear if this is an overall better or worse heart variability for vegans. Vegetarian Pregnancy and Children In his 2. John H. Langdon argues that DHA is not an essential nutrient for the brain development of infants. Pregnant women efficiently convert ALA to DHA and fetuses and infants are able to receive DHA that is released from the mother's fat tissue and provided through the umbilical cord or breast milk. In cases of very low levels of DHA from the mother, infants can utilize other fatty acids for brain tissue which can later be replaced by DHA (3. A 1. 99. 4 study measured the DHA levels in umbilical cords of 3. The analysis revealed no relationship between the proportions of DHA in plasma or cord artery phospholipids and the birth weight or head circumference of the infants. In another studying comparing breast milk, cow's milk formula with DHA, soy formula with DHA, and soy formula without DHA, infants who ate soy formula without DHA had indications of slower parasympathetic development, though still within the normal range (8. Many children have been raised vegan without supplementing with DHA, or even extra ALA, and, to our knowledge, most of these children have developed well (link). To be safe, and until more is known, parents of vegetarian children could supplement their diets with DHA at 2. Traditional Remedy: Take more ALA, Reduce LATable 5. Effects of ALA Supplementation: 1. Australian Study. Baseline. After 4 wks of 3. ALA per day. After 4 wks of 1. ALA per day %PTPL %PTPL %PTPL ALA 0. EPA 0. 3 0. 3 0. DHA 1. 1 1 0. 9^ %PPL %PPL %PPL ALA 0. EPA 0. 8 0. 9 1. DHA 2 2. 1 1. 9 %PTG %PTG %PTG ALA 1. EPA 0. 2 0. 3 . DHA 0. 2 0. 2 0. The traditional way that vegetarians were encouraged to raise EPA and DHA levels was by increasing ALA and decreasing linoleic acid (LA), a short chain omega- 6 fatty acid. The body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA. The enzymes that do this conversion also convert LA into longer chain omega- 6s, and can be saturated with omega- 6s if there is a lot in the diet. If they are saturated with omega- 6s, they are not able to convert omega- 3s. Most vegetable oils are high in omega- 6s and vegetarians tend to get plenty in their diets. A 1. 98. 1 UK study (1. A 1. 99. 2 UK study (1. An ideal ratio is thought be about 3 or 4. To deal with this problem, in the late 9. ALA intake and decreasing LA intake. Unfortunately, there are no long- term studies looking at vegetarians' blood EPA and DHA after following these recommendations. But we do have some related studies. A 1. 99. 9 study (Table 5) of 1. Australia (1. 5), aged about 2. ALA per day (the equivalent of about 1. EPA or DHA in the blood. The same study showed that four weeks of 1. ALA (the equivalent of about 6. EPA levels, but still did not increase DHA levels. There was no change in clotting factors (bleeding time was not reported). Table 6. Effects of ALA Supplementation: 1. UK Study. Baseline. ALA per day %PCP %PCP EPA 0. DHA 1. 3 1. 3 %PTPG %PTPG EPA 0. DHA 0. 9 1. 2^ A 2. The Netherlands (2. EPA or DHA after 4 weeks of 2. ALA per day in 9 vegans aged 2. By adding that much ALA, the ratio of dietary LA: ALA went from 1. A 2. 01. 4 study from the USA (3. ALA), 1 regular egg (1. DHA), and 1 fortified egg (~5. DHA, 4. 0 mg EPA, 1 g ALA). The ratio of n- 6: n- 3 was 6: 1 in the walnut phase and DHA levels did not increase. In a 1. 98. 1 UK study (1. ALA per day for 2 weeks. They had some increase in EPA and DHA levels. See Table 7. In summary, it appears that 3. ALA per day is needed for vegetarians to see an effect in blood DHA percentages in the short- term. But, there isn't any research in which participants were asked to cut their LA intake at the same time that they increased ALA intake. So we don't really know if doing that would boost DHA levels in the blood or other tissues. Table 7. Effects of ALA Supplementation: 1. India Study Baseline. After 6 weeks of 3. ALA per day PPL (umoles/dl) PPL (umoles/dl) EPA 0. DHA 2. 1 3. 0^ %PTPL %PTPL EPA TR . DHA 1. 5 2. 2^ LDL Cholesterol (mg/dl) 1. Blood aggregation (%) 7. Non- vegetarian Conversion Rates. Omnivore Books on Food Antiquarian 2 parts: Part I: . Part II: 8. 2 + . Period paneled calf, slightly later calf spine, morocco spine label. London: Mary Kettilby, 1. Kettilby's home remedies and recipes for 1. Notably, the first edition has the first printed recipe for . Mary Kettilby indicated her intended audience with the book's full title, A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery; For the Use of all Good Wives, Tender Mothers, and Careful Nurses. It was thus aimed squarely at women. The book was actually a collective effort: the preface states that . The recipes are given either as goals, as . Quantities are given in whichever units are convenient, as . Often, quantities rely on the cook's judgement, as . Temperatures and timings are given when necessary, as . Oxford p. 5. 4; Cagle 7.
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