On Mon, 20 Dec 1999, Ben Balzer wrote:

> > I challenge the w3 to w6 ratio in today's grain fed
> > beef in Todd's post, the ratio is more like 1:11 of w6
> > to w3. In the Nicholson interview he states:
>
> I think you mean 11:1
> Actually just found a similar section in the Omega Diet, Artemis Simopoulos
> (actually she's the editor of the same World Review of Nutrition and
> Dietetics that Loren Cordain's "Ceral Grains : Humaities Double Edged Sword"
> appeared in, as welll as prominent NIH posts in the past). Sorry TOdd, looks
> like I was right.

Ben and Kenny, the thing to do is to go to the USDA database and
check for yourselves.  This is what I finally did.  Choosing the
basic "composite retail cuts" category, you will find that the
w6:w3 ratio is exactly 2:1.  Like you, I used to have the
impression that it was much higher than that, and I probably
posted messages to that effect here until somebody else checked
and corrected me.

So, the ratio is not bad.  The fats in question here are
lineoleic acid and linolenic acid.  The absolute amounts are
small.  This is not a problem, since only tiny amounts are needed
to make the prostaglandins.

The USDA lists the EPA and DHA content of beef as zero, but I did
some checking on wild game meats, and they are generally not
better.  This, of course, is just *meat* and not brains, etc.

Anyway, as Ward pointed out, it appears that beef itself does not
cause the omega fat imbalance; it's the other sources of w6 fats
that have entered our diet.  Because the absolute amounts of w6
and w3 fats in beef are small, it is very easy for the ratios to
be altered drastically when we start eating even moderate amounts
of refined vegetable oils.

Todd Moody
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