The food program on Radio 4 today

[toekneep]

Did anybody else listen to this? It was about Omega 3 and 6 and was really fascinating. Getting the balance of these two fatty acids right is probably more important to worry about than cholesterol because high cholesterol is what you get when you get the balance wrong. It follows from this that the drug companies manufacturing the statins really don't want us to know this whilst the fish industry and other food producers do, of course. If you are interested in healthy eating then it is probably worth using Listen Again to hear it.

[simonp]

Let me guess what they said:

We should have a certain ratio (I forget exactly what) of Omega 3:6 and most people have this massively skewed towards Omega 6 which is unhealthy for brain and heart, correct?

[toekneep]

Ten out of ten Simon. 

[toontra]

This is of interest to me as I was recently advised by my GP to start taking statins after a routine blood test showed a cholesterol level of 6.5 (although the "good" cholesterol was abnormally high also, giving a ratio of 3).  I more or less refused on the basis of one test to go on a prescription drug for the rest of my life.  I'm seeing him again on Tuesday so have been doing a bit of research in preparation.

I've been taking Omega 3 fish oil capsules for a couple of weeks now and am going to suggest that I have a go at a dietary solution, involving adjusting the Omega 3/6 balance, for a few months first before considering statins.  The GP from Glasgow in the programme said that he uses a test to determine the ratio of Omega 3 to 6 levels present in the body - I'll ask if that's available on the NHS in London.

The weird thing is I'm pretty healthy in every other way (no alcohol, smoking, caffeine, not much dairy, etc) and have been monitoring my heart rate pretty closely for years (resting heart rate 48 and a very respectable VO2 max), and so smugly thought I would be at low risk from heart disease, so this news came as a bit of a shock!

[toekneep]

I was struck by something that came out of the program. If you take supplements to raise the Omega 3 that's good, but if you eat oily fish to get the extra Omega 3, you might do so at the expense of something else like red meat which gives you a win win outcome. But maybe you don't like oily fish.

When we lived in Wales we had a great GP who's response to my high cholesterol result was "the last thing you want now is statins, let's start with your diet." Within six months my levels were down from 6.5 to 5.3.

[toontra]

I was struck by something that came out of the program. If you take supplements to raise the Omega 3 that's good, but if you eat oily fish to get the extra Omega 3, you might do so at the expense of something else like red meat which gives you a win win outcome. But maybe you don't like oily fish.
 

That's the problem - not too keen on most oily fish, although salmon is an exception.  Strangely though I do like the taste of fish oil, so chew through the capsules.

When we lived in Wales we had a great GP who's response to my high cholesterol result was "the last thing you want now is statins, let's start with your diet." Within six months my levels were down from 6.5 to 5.3.

That sounds like the kind of GP I'm looking for!

[simonp]

I was struck by something that came out of the program. If you take supplements to raise the Omega 3 that's good, but if you eat oily fish to get the extra Omega 3, you might do so at the expense of something else like red meat which gives you a win win outcome. But maybe you don't like oily fish.
 

That's the problem - not too keen on most oily fish, although salmon is an exception.  Strangely though I do like the taste of fish oil, so chew through the capsules.

When we lived in Wales we had a great GP who's response to my high cholesterol result was "the last thing you want now is statins, let's start with your diet." Within six months my levels were down from 6.5 to 5.3.

That sounds like the kind of GP I'm looking for!

I saw a programme a several of years ago about wild vs organic farmed vs normal farmed salmon, interestingly they said that the diet and lifestyle of the normal farmed salmon led to a change in the composition of fats skewing it more towards "unhealthy" fats.  The organic salmon wasn't as bad, they claimed.

Unfortunately when I tried to find any references to confirm this about a year ago, I failed.  Don't have the time to try just now.