Price Comparison of Foods Containing Omega-3 Fatty Acids
by J. M. Yarlott
It is becoming common knowledge that eating foods containing omega-3 fatty
acids can
contribute to heart and vascular health. The FDA now has a program where
food suppliers may label their products as such if approved. Sources of
omega-3 include certain fish, nuts, and oils. A list of these foods has
been compiled with additional data that was used to calculate the cost per
day for at least 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids. The following chart shows
the results. The least expensive products were seeds, nuts, and oils while
the most expensive were sea foods.
Chart 1
The FDA also
recommends the Mediterranean
diet
in conjunction
with the high omega-3 foods. "As you may know, eating fat can kill you but you
may not know that eating Walnuts can save your life, when you have eaten too
much fat," Said Dr. Robert J. Rowan in a recent Newsletter. He further states,
"Walnuts contain wonderful plant-based polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as
alpha-linolenic acid, as well as antioxidants. They also contain the amino acid
arginine. Arginine is the raw material for nitric oxide (NO). NO relaxes the
lining of your arteries and keeps platelets from sticking to each other and to
the endothelial cells".
Research published in the British Journal
of Nutrition (Blomhoff R,
CarlsenMH)
found walnuts, pecans and chestnuts have the highest antioxidant content of the
tree nuts. Peanuts also contribute significantly to our dietary intake of
antioxidants.
A review study of the evidence linking nuts and lower risk of
coronary heart disease was published in the British Journal of Nutrition by Kelly JH
and Sabate J. In this study the
researchers looked at four large
prospectiveepidemiologicalstudies-theAdventistHealthStudy(http://www.llu.edu/llu/health/nuts.html),IowaWomen'sStudy(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12055701&dopt=AbstractPlus),
Nurses' Health Study (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/287/14/1815)
and the Physician's Health Study
(http://1stvitality.com/artman/publish/article_228.shtml). When evidence from
all four studies were combined, subjects consuming nuts at least 4 times a week
showed a 37% reduced risk of coronary heart disease compared to those who never
or seldom ate nuts. Each additional serving of nuts per week was associated with
an average 8.3% reduced risk of coronary heart disease.
The next chart
shows the portion size in ounces required to have at least one gram of Omega-3
fatty acid. Again, the seeds, nuts and oils require the smallest portions while
sea foods require larger portions. All portions are in ounces by weight,
including the oils.
Chart 2
For those who are
watching their calories, I have calculated the calories per portion and
presented the results in this chart. The foods with the lowest calorie count are
the oils, Flax seed and Walnuts.
Omega 3
Data
References:
(www.fishfoundation.org)
(www.intelihealth.com)
(www.americanheart.org)
|
