Consumer interest in omega-3 is not as high this year as it was in the 2005-2007 time frame. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been inundated by so many omega-3 messages on the news, web, and supermarket that most of us have simply come to accept the easy to remember association:  “omega-3 = good”.  In the same time period we also learned that “trans-fat = evil”.

It’s a bit like Star Wars , what with the dark and light side of the force. The “force” here is fatty acids, or what dietary fats (animal fat and vegetable oils) are composed of.

While the trans-fat message is quite simple at the practical level – just avoid products containing it – with omega 3 things are a bit more complicated. And when something is not as simple as good/bad, you can be sure there’s lots of money to be made off of the public’s ignorance. Enter the thousands of processed products now marked with “omega-3″ in large font type on the front of the package.

The analogy to Star Wars ends here because not all omega-3’s are created equal. Which means you may be buying a product fortified with omega-3 that has almost no health benefits for you. Yet you will likely be paying more than you would have for the standard, un-enriched version. In order to better understand what’s going on, here’s a quick primer on omega-3, in 10 bullet points. Read more…

As if we don’t have enough to worry about with respect to nutrition, a set of new studies has shown that children are receiving way below their required amount of vitamin D.

What is vitamin D? Why is it important? Why aren’t kids getting enough? And what are its best food sources?

Read more…

The DivineCaroline site has a delicious list of cheap healthy foods, proving you don’t need to be rich to eat nutritiously.  From the divine:

Food prices are climbing, and some might be looking to fast foods and packaged foods for their cheap bites. But low cost doesn’t have to mean low quality. In fact, some of the most inexpensive things you can buy are the best things for you. At the grocery store, getting the most nutrition for the least amount of money means hanging out on the peripheries—near the fruits and veggies, the meat and dairy, and the bulk grains—while avoiding the expensive packaged interior. By doing so, not only will your kitchen be stocked with excellent foods, your wallet won’t be empty.

read it all…

The list includes nutritional benefits and links to easy recipes. Here is the quick rundown: oats, eggs, kale, potatoes, apples, nuts, bananas, garbanzo beans, broccoli, watermelon, wild rice, beets, butternut squash, whole grain pasta, sardines, spinach, tofu, lowfat milk, pumpkin seeds, and coffee(!).

What you need to know:

Unprocessed food is usually cheaper and healthier for you. But it does require time for meal preparation. Most people that start preparing food at home find the quick and easy recipes that work for them. Getting older children involved in preparation is a double reward.

What to do at the supermarket:

As the post suggests, sticking to the periphery of the supermarket will help you focus on the healthier, unprocessed foods.

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flickr photo: FreeCat

Fish is supposed to be good for you, right?

Did you know, however, that the government actually recommends limiting fish intake for certain populations due to the risk of mercury poisoning? In the past 15 years, pregnant women and young children have been advised to limit consumption of certain types of fish that have been shown to contain high quantities of this brain damaging heavy metal.

That is, until now. From the Washington Post:

The Food and Drug Administration is urging the government to amend its advisory that women and children should limit how much fish they eat, saying that the benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks and that most people should eat more fish, even if it contains mercury.

If approved by the White House, the FDA’s position would reverse the government’s current policy that certain groups — women of childbearing years, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children — can be harmed by the mercury in fish and should limit their consumption.

The FDA’s recommendations have alarmed scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, who in internal memos criticized them as “scientifically flawed and inadequate” and said they fell short of the “scientific rigor routinely demonstrated by EPA.”

Read the article…

What you need to know:

Fish are rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals. They are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, and generally perceived as a healthier alternative to meat consumption. Unfortunately, in this modernized industrial world, factory pollution has released huge amounts of mercury to air, land, and sea. The flesh of large, carnivorous fish, has become loaded with toxic chemicals such as methyl-mercury. This poison can harm fetuses and young children’s proper brain development.

What to do at the supermarket:

Buying fish used to be easy. There are now so many areas a shopper must master – nutrition, ecology, toxins – that it becomes almost impossible to make a correct choice.

The bigger the fish, the more mercury it has stored. So stay away from shark meat, swordfish, king mackerel, and albacore tuna. Small fry such as sardines and anchovies, are an excellent source of protein and omega-3, without toxins. This is because they live for a short period of time before being harvested, so their body does not have time to accumulate mercury.

For high risk groups, limit yourself to other foods rich in omega-3 such as eggs,chicken, beans, nuts and seeds. Granted, they have less omega-3 than some fish, but why take a risk?
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Image by Thai Jasmine via Flickr

Happy Friday everyone. Today, a quick overview of Vitamin D.

What you need to know:
What Vitamin D does:
1. Bone builder – helps our body absorb and retain calcium and phosphorus (bone building blocks).
2. Cancer fighter – keeps cancer cells from growing and dividing.
3. Infection fighter – functions in controlling infections.

Sources of Vitamin D:
1. Sunlight – 15 minutes a day is considered a good amount of time. The sun’s ultra-violet rays help our body manufacture vitamin D.
2. Naturally in foods – fatty fish (like salmon, sardines, herring, catfish, tuna, and mackerel), egg yolks, liver
3. Added to certain foods – fortified milk and cereals. Some other dairy products may be fortified as well.
4. Supplements – for example in a multivitamin.

Recent News:
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended doubling the daily amount of Vitamin D for kids. The amount suggested is 400 IUs (international units) which is the equivalent of drinking 4 cups of milk a day.

What to do at the supermarket:

Look at the nutrition labels of your usual dairy milk, soy milk, cereals and take note of the vitamin content. Add fish to your family’s diet. Canned sardines and tuna are a good and quick source of vitamin D as well – 1 ounce of canned tuna will provide 75 IU; sardines – double that.

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