“Fat” still has a bad reputation and regularly gets negative press, and lots of people are trying to avoid dietary fat for a number of reasons – from thinking it will make them put on weight to being worried about their cardiovascular health.
It is however very important to differentiate between the “good fats” and the “bad fats” – dietary fat and essential fatty acids are essential for our wellbeing and for many functions in our body.
There are many types of fatty acids, all varying by the number of carbon atoms and hydrogen bonds that they contain, and they are needed to provide energy, make up the cell membranes, help absorb certain vitamins and minerals, and produce important hormones.
In this post I am focusing on the essential fatty acids – or EFAs as Nutritional Therapists refer to them. Unlike most other fatty acids, these are lipids that are not metabolised by the body and therefore must be obtained from the diet.
Omega-3 (ω − 3) and Omega-6 (ω − 6)
Omega-3 (ω − 3) and Omega-6 (ω − 6) are the two primary families of essential fatty acids, with constituent lipids within each group. They are critical to the brain and nervous system and involved in many biological processes.
Benefits of essential fatty acids include the improvement of immunity, cell signaling, mood and brain health, joint pain, as well as the promotion of heart health.
Some research shows that increasing your intake of essential fatty acids could enhance both mental and physical performance, help prevent some diseases, promote mental health, and improve body composition.
It’s really important to know that essential fatty acids are essential components of cell membranes – they help maintain the cell membrane fluidity and are necessary for the communication between cells. Due to their interaction with membrane proteins they also affect the transport of substances into and out of the cell.
It is claimed that a deficiency in essential fatty acids can make you more sensitive to allergens.
Essential fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids and include:
1. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 [18:3n − 3] fatty acid
2. Linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 [18:2n − 6] fatty acid
The typical Western diet is low in Omega-3 fats (oily fish, nuts, seeds) whilst containing high amounts of Omega-6 fats (meat, dairy, vegetable oils), and the ration between these should be ideally be close to 2:1. In the modern Western diet the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio is in many cases 20:1!
As a very brief summary, Omega-3 fats reduce (harmful) inflammation, whilst Omega-6 fats increase it.
We need to be aware of omega-3 from animal sources versus omega-3 from plant sources – omega-3 from plant sources is in the form of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which means the body needs to convert it to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) before it can be utilised by the body for something other than energy. This conversion isn’t a very efficient process with only a small % of ALA being converted to EPA (and even less into DHA). If ALA is not converted to EPA or DHA, it is simply stored or used as energy like other fats.
Good food sources of Omega-3 include:
- oily fish (sardines, mackerel, herring, trout, wild salmon) – a great source of EPA!
- Flaxseeds and flaxseed oil
- other seeds including pumpkin and sunflower seeds
- Olive oil (try and go for extra virgin olive oil as it’s the least processed)
- Avocados
- Chia seeds
- Walnuts
As general advice (and as long as you haven’t got a disorder that affects absorption), it’s good to try and include healthy oils, nuts and seeds into your daily diet in order to keep the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio in balance.
If you do supplement with any fish oils please do make sure that they are pure and stable, from a good source and of high quality.
