High Omega-6/Omega-3 Ratio Increases Prostate Cancer Risk

A recent case-control study shows a relationship between the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 consumed and prostate cancer. No association was found between individual, or what I call absolute, intakes of either omega-3 or omega-6:

A High Ratio Of Dietary N-6/N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Is Associated With Increased Risk Of Prostate Cancer, Nutrition Research, January 2011

Our results showed no significant associations between specific n-3 or n-6 PUFA intakes and prostate cancer risk.
...
Our findings suggest that a high dietary ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids may increase the risk of overall prostate cancer among white men and possibly increase the risk of high-grade prostate cancer among all men.

The odds ratios were startlingly high.

Here's a table I made last year that shows omega-6 and omega-3 content of some common foods:


Click to enlarge.

The best way to increase your relative omega-3 is to decrease your omega-6 intake. If you eat a sizable amount of omega-6, then eating more fish or other foods high in omega-3, or taking fish oil, may just increase your overall fat intake without improving your ratio.

Vegetable oils are high in omega-6. As you can see from the chart, nuts, seeds and oils made from them (e.g. corn oil and soy oil) are leading sources of omega-6 in Americans' diets. (The grains themselves, like corn or rice, are not as much of a problem since they are low in fat and provide little omega-6 per serving.)

Note that greens (romaine, broccoli, kale, spinach) generally have more omega-3 than omega-6 and so are excellent ways to improve your ratio. Walnuts on the other hand have more omega-6 than omega-3 and so are not a good way to improve your ratio.

Both omega-3 and omega-6 are polyunsaturated fats. If you take extra omega-3, in pill or food, you are intaking more polyunsaturated fat. These fats have highly-reactive double bonds and oxidize quickly, especially when they meet acids in your stomach. Oxidized fats, and their metabolites, have been shown to increase risk for atherosclerosis and some cancers.

A good ratio to shoot for is 4:1 or less. That's 4 units (or less) of omega-6 for every one unit of omega-3.
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Fish Store Toxins

A type of fish in the Hudson River has a unique way of resisting the river's pollutants:

"Instead of getting sick from dioxins and related compounds, Atlantic tomcod harmlessly store these poisons in fat."
- Mutant Fish Safely Store Toxins in Fat, Wired Science, February 18, 2011

Good for the tomcod, bad for us:

"Each bite of tomcod that a predator takes will move a potent dose of toxic chemicals up the food chain — eventually into species that could end up on home dinner tables."

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On a related note, our plastic waste has become animals' dinner, with similar consequences to the food chain:

"Some types of plastic begin to break down in the ocean within one year, releasing potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and other chemicals into the water.
...
Both BPA and components of styrene trimer have been shown to disrupt hormone function and cause reproductive problems in animals.
...
Plastic poses the biggest threat to marine animals that confuse garbage with dinner and end up digesting large quantities of polystyrene.
...
“Every size of organism, every creature in the food web in the ocean, from the smallest filter feeders to the largest whales, is consuming plastic,” says ocean researcher Charles Moore."
- Toxic Soup: Plastics Could Be Leaching Chemicals Into Ocean, Wired Science, August 19, 2009

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And now ... The USDA's new Dietary Guidelines recommend a higher intake for seafood:

"The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 includes a new quantitative recommendation for seafood intake. An intake of 8 or more ounces per week (less for young children), about 20% of total recommended intake of protein foods of a variety of seafood is recommended."

I'm not sure how to reconcile the two. Maybe eat fish lower on the food chain. None of this takes into account the widespread overfishing and depletion of fish stocks. What was the USDA thinking?
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Kabocha Squash From Rico Farms

It would have been a lean January but for these kabocha squash. If I had to pick a favorite food, this is it. And these, of the type, are the best I've ever had - deep orange, sweet, soft - not stringy or mealy. Thanks to Rico Farms, I can enjoy them as the snow piles up outside.

Francisco Tapia Jr. and Sr. grow them on their small, family-owned and -run farm in Sonora, Mexico along with other squashes, melons, and grapes. I like knowing my purchase rewards their work, supports more environmentally-friendly growing methods, and strengthens rural communities.


The USDA says "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food." I'm working on it!
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Dr. Ralph Cinque On Back Pain

I stumbled upon the blog of a Dr. Ralph Cinque. I don’t know him. From what I can tell, he sells supplements, lots of them. And he runs a health retreat in Texas. I’m wary of health advice that’s linked to direct sales. Nonetheless, I’ve been enjoying Dr. Cinque’s Blog.

His last post was on the role of diet and nutrition in back pain. Here’s how he summed it up:

“So, if you want to avoid back problems, first, learn how to use your back correctly, and the state-of-the-art method for doing that is the Alexander Technique. Second, get lean and stay lean because it reduces pressure on your back. Third, don’t smoke. Fourth, eat a diet that keeps your arteries clear and your blood flowing, which, to my mind, means a plant-based diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes, and not much of anything else. And let’s face it: if you eat an ample amount of all of the above-mentioned foods, you are not going to have much room left (in your stomach) for anything else. After all, how much food can you eat? Maybe occasionally eat a good piece of fish- if you can get it. Maybe, occasionally, have a free-range, organic egg. But these, and all other animal foods, should be limited. Make plant foods the vast bulk of what you eat. That’s what I do. And my back is strong. Strong like bull.”

I’m not familiar with the Alexander Technique, but good posture and attention to how you use your body make sense. I like his diet advice. Although if there is inflammation, as there likely is with back pain, the pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats in nuts and seeds may be problematic.
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Pesticides Vs. Human Health: Pesticides Are Winning

Actions being taken to increase farm yields are bumping up against risks of those actions to human health.

From The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter:

"During the 1990s, the U.S. Geological Survey collected more than 8,000 water and fish samples across the country and analyzed them for 76 different pesticides. Some key findings were:

• More than 90 percent of water and fish samples from all streams contained one, or more often several, pesticides.
  
  
• About half of all groundwater samples contained one or more pesticides.
  
  
• The highest rates of detection were for the most heavily used herbicides-atrazine, metolachlor, alachlor, and cyanazine-which were common in streams and shallow ground water in agricultural areas.
  
  
• Levels of any individual pesticide exceeding drinking water guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency were found in only 1 percent of samples, but there is uncertainty about the risks of low-level exposure to multiple pesticides. Moreover, for about half the pesticides detected the EPA has not set any guidelines.
  
  
• Close to half of the agricultural streams sampled had pesticide levels that exceeded Canadian guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. (The report referred to Canadian guidelines because there are no U.S. guidelines for this purpose.) Pesticides like DDT and Dieldrin, which have not been used since the 1960s, were still present across the country. DDT was found in almost every fish sample."

Chemical use in agriculture is getting out of hand. Singer and Mason say the use of pesticides, including insecticides and herbicides, more than doubled between 1937 and 1997. The pesticide load in our grandparents' bodies was presumably far less than that in our own. We have yet to document the fallout of this chemical onslaught, although the rise in obesity and diabetes rates is foreboding.
________Photo of farm worker from Humboldt State University, California. Caption: "A farm worker sprays pesticides on newly planted strawberries on a farm along the Pacific Coast."
Speaking of strawberries, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) says they are one of the most pesticide-laden fruits you can buy. (See: EWG Shoppers Guide)

The Shrimp And The Octopus

In my previous post, it occurred to me that while PBS' Jake Ward has us questioning the ethics of eating mollusks (octopus) because they may be intelligent or sentient, we watch as the octopus devours a shrimp - while the shrimp is still alive. Are crustaceans (shrimp) sentient?

A shrimp successfully defends itself against an octopus:



Animals eat animals. The human animal has a choice though. The ethics of humans eating animals based upon their intelligence or sentience seems to have less footing than the ethics of eating animals based upon how they were treated ... since the more we observe animals the more intelligence they appear to possess. (That is, if you choose to eat animals.)

Back to that prior post ... I think imprisoning one sentient animal in a glass jar for the purpose of feeding it to another sentient animal imprisoned in a glass tank - so we may watch - is ruthless. At least give the shrimp some ability to get away.
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Octopuses Are Brainy

If you're short on time, skip to 4:08 minutes and see if you can find the octopus. Even when I knew it was there I couldn't see it.

They can also disguise themselves as the opposite gender?


________From: PBS NOVA: How Smart Is An Octopus?

Greatest Exposure To Pollutants Is From Animal Foods

Many environmental pollutants (PCBs, pesticides, solvents, drugs, endocrine disruptors like bisphenol-A in plastics) are fat soluble and bioaccumulate - they're found in higher concentrations as you ascend the food chain. Food is the primary source of human exposure to these pollutants, and foods of animal origin, including dairy products, contain the highest levels. ¹

We all have these pollutants in our bodies. This study found that people with high levels were 38 times! more likely to have diabetes:

A Strong Dose-Response Relation Between Serum Concentrations Of Persistent Organic Pollutants [POPs] And Diabetes: Results From The National Health And Examination Survey 1999–2002, Diabetes Care, 2006

The association was stronger in younger people and obese people. Interestingly, "there was no association between obesity and diabetes among subjects with nondetectable levels of POPs." So you could be obese but if you had low levels of these pollutants, your risk for diabetes was similar to someone who was slender.
________¹ Most Unwanted: Persistent Organic Pollutants, Environmental Health Perspectives, 1999

No, Dr. Katz, Eggs Are Not A Health Food

"Just a second," as Judge Judy says.

This news about eggs has been making headlines:

USDA: Eggs' Cholesterol Lower Than Thought, Vitamin D Higher, Dr. David Katz, The Huffington Post, February 8, 2011

It's based on a re-analysis of the nutrients in a typical factory-farmed egg:

New Study Shows Large Eggs Are 14 Percent Lower In Cholesterol & 64 Percent Higher In Vitamin D, PRNewswire, February 8, 2011

The message coming from the egg industry's American Egg Board is that "Eggs Are Now Naturally Lower in Cholesterol." If you read that fast it looks like it's saying eggs are naturally low in cholesterol. That's intentional. Because eggs are one of the most cholesterol-rich foods we eat, even after the new analysis. And the public has a mindset, which the Egg Board loathes, that cholesterol is bad for you. (Many people do, at least.)

Spence at al.¹ say that the cholesterol in one large egg yolk is equivalent to the cholesterol in two-thirds of a pound of beef, plus three slices of cheese, plus four strips of bacon - the contents of a Hardee's Monster Thickburger.

I took a look at the USDA's new analysis and compared it to the old:

Egg, whole, raw, fresh, 50g:

Old (from NutritionData based on USDA) ........ New (USDA):

Calories 71.5 ........ 72

Total Fat 5g ........ 4.75g
Saturated Fat 1.550g ........ 1.563g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.9045g ........ 1.829g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7g ........ 1.0g
     Omega-3 37.0mg ........ 51mg
     Omega-6 574mg ........ 792mg
Trans fat 0g ........ 0.02g
Cholesterol 211mg ........ 186mg

Total Carb 0.4g (380mg) ........ 0.4g (360mg)
Dietary Fiber 0g ........ 0g
Sugars 0.4g ........ 0.2g (plus others not noted to come up with 0.4 total?)
     Glucose 105mg ........ 180mg

Protein 6.3g ........ 6.3g

Vitamin D 17.5 IU ........ 41 IU

Someone is getting jiggy with the numbers. You can't keep calories the same and claim a reduction in fat without a corresponding increase in carbs and protein. But they claim the protein remained the same too. Which has to mean that carbohydrate content increased. The USDA's breakdown for the new egg unhelpfully rounds all carbs except for glucose to 0. It doesn't add up.

Upon inspection, glucose content went up in the new egg:

• 71% increase in glucose, up from 105mg to 180mg per egg.

And along with a reduction in beneficial monounsaturated fat in the new egg, there was:

• 43% increase in polyunsaturated fat, mostly omega-6 fat which went up by an additional 218 mg.

By the looks of it, the incredible edible egg is turning into the incredible edible soybean, phytoestrogens and all.

After all that, I think the differences aren't that striking, or meaningful. The nutrients in an egg will of course vary ... by egg size, what you feed the chicken, the environment of the chicken (allowed to hunt and peck in pasture vs. housed). And what nutrients we absorb from the egg will vary ... by our constitution, what other foods we eat, how the egg is prepared, etc. The variables are numerous, so it's hard to say that 24 mg this way or 24 IUs that way are meaningful.

By the way, eggs have more vitamin D because the hen is fed more vitamin D. We could take the supplement ourselves, get a lot more than 24 IUs, and skip the fat, cholesterol, environmental toxins, and support of unethical factory farming.
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What does mean something are large epidemiological studies that show that eggs are not harmless for people at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The pro-egg messages the Egg Board (and Dr. Katz) is propagating are based on effects in healthy people - people who would need to be followed for longer periods of time before ill effects became apparent.

The very same studies the Egg Board (and Dr. Katz) quoted did find increased CVD risk in people with diabetes:

A Prospective Study Of Egg Consumption And Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease In Men And Women, Journal of the American Medical Association, 1999
"The apparent increased risk of CHD associated with higher egg consumption among diabetic participants warrants further research."

Regular Egg Consumption Does Not Increase The Risk Of Stroke And Cardiovascular Diseases, Medical Science Monitor, 2007
"The increased risk of coronary artery disease associated with higher egg consumption among diabetics warrants further investigations."

Both of the studies above showed a doubling! of CVD risk in a non-healthy population (diabetes). Yet Dr. Katz referenced the first one saying, "numerous studies ... have suggested that dietary cholesterol in general, and eggs in particular, do not contribute meaningfully to blood cholesterol levels, or cardiac risk."

The first one also showed that regular egg consumption actually increased the risk for diabetes, as do these two:

Food Intake Patterns Associated With Incident Type 2 Diabetes: The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study, Diabetes Care, 2009
Finding: Consumption of eggs increased risk for type 2 diabetes.

Egg Consumption And Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes In Men And Women, Diabetes Care, 2009
Finding: Consumption of eggs increased risk for type 2 diabetes.

Here's one that found regular egg consumption doubled mortality:

Egg Consumption In Relation To Cardiovascular Disease And Mortality: The Physicians' Health Study, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2008
"Egg consumption was positively related to mortality, more strongly so in diabetic subjects."

I was scanning through the comments under Dr. Katz's pro-egg article and was disappointed to see so many who sided with his argument without digging a little deeper. The methods food industries use to shape public opinion are changing; they're becoming more effective.
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¹ Dietary Cholesterol And Egg Yolks: Not For Patients At Risk Of Vascular Disease, The Canadian Journal of Cardiology, November 2010

Sapporo Beer Commercial

Just fantastic, in so many ways:



I was trying to follow how the beer was made - from grain to beverage. It looks like the wrestlers were thrashing and the women were winnowing? Then the grains were carried in buckets down to a water source for sprouting, to make malt? A mash was made from the malt then the liquid tapped off. I think I see them adding hops or flavoring. Then they wait for the yeast to work. Not sure what the snowy scene does. Sealing the kegs, my favorite scene.

Related post: Early Maltsters________Thank you, BL.

Advantages of Not Buying Local

Peter Singer and Jim Mason lay out good arguments for why buying local may not always be the most ethical choice.¹ It's not a dependable guide for saving energy, growing sustainably, or assisting low-income communities.

Tomatoes:

"A British study carried out for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed that buying local tomatoes outside the usual outdoor season was responsible for three times the carbon dioxide emissions caused by growing the tomatoes in Spain and trucking them to Britain."

"Mary Ann would reduce her contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding her local [Fairfield, Connecticut] farmer's green-house-grown early tomatoes and buying tomatoes from Florida."

Rice:

"The energy used in shipping a ton of rice from Bangladesh to San Francisco is less than the difference between the amount of energy it takes to grow it in California and in Bangladesh, so if you live in San Francisco, you would save energy by buying rice that has traveled thousands of miles by sea, rather than locally-grown rice."

Beans:

"If you have a dollar to spend on beans and you can choose between buying locally grown beans at a farmers' market or beans grown by a poor farmer in Kenya - even if the local farmer would get to keep the entire dollar and the Kenyan farmer would get only two cents from your dollar - you will do more to relieve poverty by buying the Kenyan beans."

Consequences:

"Our point now is simply that "keep your dollars circulating in your own community" is not an ethical principle at all. To adhere to a principle of "buy locally," irrespective of the consequences for others, is a kind of community-based selfishness."

A rather frank issue for me:


________¹ Excerpts from their book, The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter, 2006

How Do You Define "Farmers' Market?"

Here's one definition:

"Usually only regional farmers and vendors may sell their products at the farmer's market and middlemen or brokers are not allowed. ... Generally, all items must be grown, raised, foraged, caught, or otherwise produced by the seller."
- USLegal.com: Farmers Market

This story/video I saw recently on Bill Marler's and Jim Prevor's sites had me wondering:

False Claims, Lies Caught on Tape at Farmers Markets, NBC, September 2010


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Robert Atkins And Nathan Pritikin

My previous post discussed the passing of Jack Lalanne and Jim Fixx. Here are two more high-profile health advocates: Robert Atkins and Nathan Pritikin.

To recap:

• Jack Lalanne (1914-2011), who advocated exercise, along with a low-fat, minimally-processed, plant-based diet and positive thinking, died at 96 of respiratory failure from pneumonia.
  
• Jim Fixx (1932-1984), who advocated long-distance running, died at 52 of a heart attack while running.
  
• Robert Atkins (1930-2003), who advocated a low-carb diet along with moderate exercise died at 72 from head injuries subsequent to a fall.
  
• Nathan Pritikin (1915-1985), who advocated a low-fat, minimally-processed, plant-based diet, along with moderate exercise died at 69 of suicide related to complications from chemotherapy.

Atkins

As with LaLanne and Fixx, Atkins was in less-than-peak shape in his early years:

"In 1963 [33 years old], when Atkins weighed 100 kg (224 pounds) due to a diet of junk food, he read a study of a low-starch diet in JAMA based on the work of Alfred W. Pennington and successfully lost weight by following it."

According to a statement released by Atkins' wife after his death, Atkins developed atherosclerosis as he aged:

"While Robert did have some progression of his coronary artery disease in the last three years of his life including some new blockage of a secondary artery that was remedied during this admission, he did not have a heart attack."

From Wikipedia:

"Coronary Artery Disease (CAD or atherosclerotic heart disease) is the end result of the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the coronary arteries."

This medical examiner's report of Atkins' death states the deceased was a 72-year-old white male with a history of MI (myocardial infarction or heart attack), CHF (congestive heart failure), and HTN (hypertension or high blood pressure).

So, Dr. Atkins did have plaque build-up in the arteries supplying his heart, it did get worse as he aged, and he did suffer a heart attack at some point; whether that was the "cardiac arrest" Atkins suffered in 2002 is unclear. Mrs. Atkins maintains that her husband's heart condition and health problems were the result of a viral infection that affected his heart (cardiomyopathy), not diet.

Pritikin

As with LaLanne, Fixx, and Atkins, Pritikin was in less-than-peak shape in his early years:

"Diagnosed with heart disease in the 1950s [placing him around 40 years old], he engaged in a low-fat diet that was high in unrefined carbohydrates along with a moderate aerobic exercise regime."

Pritikin's site describes the evolution of the reversal of his heart disease:

"Pritikin's own cholesterol [in 1958, at the age of 41] was 280. He created an eating plan rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans and with moderate amounts of lean meat, seafood, and nonfat dairy foods. He also began exercising. His cholesterol plummeted to 120. Two years later, a new electrocardiogram showed that his coronary insufficiency had disappeared. His test results: normal.

In 1985, Pritikin died from complications related to a 35-year struggle with leukemia. The results of his autopsy were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and showed that Nathan Pritikin's arteries were free of any signs of heart disease, and were as "soft and pliable" as a teenager's. "In a man 69 years old," wrote pathologist Jeffrey Hubbard, "the near absence of atherosclerosis and the complete absence of its effects are remarkable." "

About Pritikin's death, I found this comment by Joe D. Goldstrich MD in Dr. Michael Eades' Protein Power blog:

"Concerning Pritikin: I worked with him in the 70s and 80s as the cardiologist and later medical director at the California Pritikin Longevity Center. He developed leukemia long before he began a low-fat diet. Interestingly, the leukemia was totally asymptomatic and in remission for over 20 years when he reluctantly saw a hematologist at UCLA. The hematologist was certain that Pritikin had hairy cell leukemia and that chemotherapy was indicated. Pritikin was convinced to take chemotherapy although it contradicted everything he believed and stood for. He had an extremely adverse reaction to the chemotherapeutic agent that included liver and kidney damage. He was quite thin to begin with and following the chemotherapy he lost about 30 pounds and appeared cadaveric. Pritikin traveled from California to a hospital in New York state under an assumed name for a second opinion. He was told that there was no hope and that he would most likely die quite soon. He said goodbye to his family and sent them out to eat dinner. He then severed both his brachial arteries with a scalpel and bled to death in his hospital bed. His autopsy was subsequently reported in the New England Journal (1985 Jul 4;313(1):52).

His coronary arteries were perfectly clean despite his having had significant (and convincing to me, a pretty good clinical cardiologist) angina in the days before routine coronary angiography. Pritikin developed his diet initially to treat himself. His angina went away early on as he became a low-fat vegetarian. For all apparent purposes his diet served him well."

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It's hard to tell which diet, Atkins' meat-based high-fat plan or Pritikin's plant-based low-fat plan, was better at reducing plaque. Atkins' family did not permit an autopsy, however, the progression of Atkins' atherosclerosis in the years leading up to his death is worrisome. From this elementary comparison, I would say Pritikin's diet was better. It looks like I'm not alone. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid decided to pay for Nathan Pritikin's and Dean Ornish's cardiac rehab programs. Both programs promote a low-fat, plant-based diet.
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