Corn and high Omega 6

[Acura]

Jeff,

Dr McDougall sites how various populations of the world, some thrived on wheat, corn, rice etc all whole grain and very little processing for thousands of years. I believe Corn is staple in Mexico and south America. Not sure how much do they really consume.

But if you look at the omega 6 to Omega 3 ration it it 32 in case of whole grain Corn. So if you were eating one or two grilled Corn webs everyday and adding some Corn kernels to your diet. Could this be a problem? HFCS is also made from Corn which has proven to be very damaging. Your comments please?

[JeffN]

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=19441



In Health
Jeff

[Acura]

http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=19441



In Health
Jeff

Didn't realize I asked that question before

In anycase, that says if you desire n-3/n-6 of X then adjust accordingly.

[JeffN]

You always have to look at the bigger picture and how all the numbers line up.

The impact any one food will have on any one issue of the entire diet will depend on a few factors including..

- calorie density - the higher the calorie density of the food, the more likely it will have an impact

- the density of the issue at hand (ie, omega 6). Foods higher in omega 6/calorie will be more likely to have an impact

- the amount of the food consumed.

So, for instance, coconut is very high in calorie density and very high in saturated fat. So, even small amounts of coconut can have a big impact on the total amount of saturated fat.

However, corn is low in calorie density and while higher in omega 6, not that high so its impact on the total diet will be smaller, unless someone gets the majority of their calories from corn, which, do to its lower calorie density, will be difficult.

In Health
Jeff

[Acura]

However, corn is low in calorie density and while higher in omega 6, not that high so its impact on the total diet will be smaller, unless someone gets the majority of their calories from corn, which, do to its lower calorie density, will be difficult.

In Health
Jeff

I specifically listed this. If you consume just 400 calories(20%) which can not be considered as corn based diet, it jacks up your ratio upto 8 and 9.6 from the ratio of 2 and 4 respectively. Unless I messed up the math. I use ratio of 2; maximum 4 as baseline as that is what we are supposed to be averaging on a truly plant based diet.

[JeffN]

Just 400 calories? For most, that is quite a but of corn

However, again, it depends on the total diet including what the rest of the food is that makes up the other 60%.

It's impossible for me to respond accurately to a question on the micro management of one minor detail with seeing everything else in context.

In Health
Jeff

[Acura]

However, again, it depends on the total diet including what the rest of the food is that makes up the other 60%.

Jeff

As I mentioned rest of the diet ratio(n6/n3) is either 2 or maximum upto 4. That's the best case scenario one can get these days. It is impossible to get that ratio that low without eating right. So rest of the diet is healthy and yes we are looking at overall diet.

My contention is, even if every thing else is close to perfect just adding 300-400 calories from whole grain corn worsens the ratio dramatically by 3 or 4 fold.

I may have estimated Calories from corn on the higher side, but not that high. 3 medium corns will be approximately 111X3= 333. These days people don't just eat right from the cob, corn kernels are also available which when you keep adding/mixing with other foods, won't take much to add up to 350-400 calories.

[JeffN]

I have yet to design or analyze a diet that follows the guidelines and principles recommended here that overtime, on average, has a 6/3 ratio over 4/1.


In Health
Jeff

[Acura]

I have yet to design or analyze a diet that follows the guidelines and principles recommended here that overtime, on average, has a 6/3 ratio over 4/1.


In Health
Jeff

Good to know that. Looks like untill I plug all the numbers, I won't see the full picture. I'm sure you have done this umpteen times.