Suebee wrote:Believe me, I am not challenging you Jeff. I really, really appreciate the thoroughness of your replies.
Thanks. But, my comment about challenging me was not directed or intended to you and was not meant to be negative. I encourage you to challenge me and question me. But, just don't use internet spam and hear-say. We will all become better educated and more comfortable with our choices the better we understand them.
Suebee wrote:He didn't recommend flax years ago but now he does.
No one really knew about them a few years ago, let alone the importance of omega 3s, etc.
Suebee wrote: Dr Mc said if one eats lots of greens you could get your omega-3 fats that way AS LONG AS you didn't ruin the ratio by adding omega-6's (nuts, seeds). I was wondering about those nuts containing omega 6 fats.
Yes, just green leafy veggies alone can supply one with all their omega 3s (and 6s) and in the perfect ratio, if they would eat enough of them. I show such a slide in one of my talks at the McDougall Program
The other issue is Omega 6s (and saturated fat) and making sure we do not get in too much of either. Ideally, saturated fat should be under 5% of our calories and the omega 6 to 3 ratio should be under 4:1 with under 2:1 even better.
Unfortunately, some nuts are very high in omega 6s and some are higher in saturated fat. So if you include any of these you would not want to over do them.
Most nuts have little if any omega 3s so they have very very poor ratios of omega 6 to omega 3s.
Black Walnuts are 16:1
English Walnuts 4:1
Pecans are 20:1
Pistachio is 37:1
Pine Nuts are 300:1
Macadamia is 6:1
Hazelnut is 88:1
Cashew is 117:1
Brazil Nut is 1000:1
Almonds 1800:1
Pumpkin Seeds 117:1
Sunflower Seeds 300:1
CA Avocados 15:1
FL Avocados 16.5:1
Flaxseed 3.9:1 ***
Chia Seed 3:1 ***
(***these is a reverse ratio as the omega 3 is higher than the omega 6)
In regard to Saturated fat
Black Walnuts are 5%
English Walnuts are 8%
Pecans are 8%
Pistachio is 8.5%
Pine Nuts are 6.6%
Macadamia is 15%
Hazelnut is 6.5%
Cashew is 12.5%
Brazil Nut is 21%
Almonds are 6%
Pumpkin Seeds 14%
Sunflower Seeds 6.5%
Flaxseed 6%
Chia Seed 6%
CA Avocados 11.5%
FL Avocados 15%
As you can see, most are not bad, but some are fairly high in saturated fat and some are really high in omega 6s. Some of these, like cashews may not be great choices. They are over 12% saturated fat and have a ratio of 117:1 Pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts are also not the best choices as they are also "higher" in saturated fat and have a "higher" ratio.
It looks like English Walnuts would be the best choice by far.
Suebee wrote:claims nuts and avocado being in their unprocessed forms do not cause the occlusion to the arteries that oil causes. I've no idea about that claim.
While I would like to beleive this also, I do not know of much evidence supporting it.
There is one study that compared the effects of walnuts to olive oil on blood flow and yes, walnuts did not negatively effect blood flow and actually had a positive effect. But that is for walnuts, and they used the English walnuts which has one of the best profiles of all the nuts, is low in saturated fat, and also contributed 5.4 grams of omega 3s. The amount used was about 1.5 oz. So, we could say this for English Walnuts.
But we also know that we get a similar effect from giving subjects and oil that is high in Omega 3s. So, if most of the effect is from the omega 3s, then we can wonder if the other nuts will have the same benefit as they are low in omega 3s
But considering the poor level of Omega 3s, the poor ratios of Omega 6:3, I would not be willing to say other nuts/seeds would have the same effect.
In Health
Jeff Novick, MS, RD