Adam Sroka wrote:

> Eliot Martin Glick wrote:
>
>> jeules wrote:
>>
>>> There is much discussion about flax oil being a less than ideal
>>> source of
>>> omega-3 fatty acids because they are very sustecible to rancidity when
>>> exposed to heat, air, and light for very short periods of time.  Why
>>> does
>>> this discussion not carry over to the high heat exposure of other
>>> omega-3
>>> sources such as in the roasting of grass fed meat or wild game,
>>> frying of
>>> omega-3 eggs, baking of fish, and the drying of walnuts?  If it's so
>>> bad to
>>> heat flax, why wouldn't it be the same for any other omega-3 containing
>>> food?
>>>
>>>
> It is difficult to get n-3 fats from modern foods. Supplementing is a
> viable idea, and is one (Perhaps the only one) that pretty much everyone
> agrees on (e.g. the low carb folks, the high carb folks, the AHA, your
> doctor, etc.) The best way, from a whole foods/Paleo perspective, to get
> more n-3 is to eat more seafood (Especially cold water fish.) However,
> these are often polluted so that eating more than a few servings a week
> can actually do more harm than good. Fish oil capsules have proven to be
> safe and effective. The other way is flaxseed oil or hempseed oil. These
> things are not very Paleo, but they are an attempt to make up for what
> we miss by not eating brains and marrow. If you want to be 100% Paleo
> you can eat more seafood and/or brains and marrow, otherwise
> supplementing is probably okay.
>
> All polyunsaturated oils are subject to oxidation. They oxidize when
> they are cooked, exposed to light, etc. And they even oxidize in the
> body after you eat them. Natural sources of PUFA tend to have mechanisms
> to prevent this, such as mixing PUFA with other fats or antioxidant
> chemicals. These mechanisms degrade quickly when the food is stored and
> cooked. The best way to deal with this is to store food in a cool, dry
> place, use it quickly, and don't over cook it or cook it with excessive
> heat (It is better to cook slowly at low temperature.)
>
>> I'm sure someone can answer this in a clearer way.  Flax oil is an
>> artificial food.  There is no way paleo man or woman could extract the
>> oil from flax seeds, nor would there be any reason to.  Perhaps because
>> it is thus, the oil is very susceptible to rancidity.  This is not the
>> case with rendered fat, nor coconut oil and to a lesser extent olive
>> oil.  Interesting, these sources of concentrated fat were easily
>> obtainable with basic paleo knowhow.  Omega-3's are not destroyed in
>> food when using proper cooking/roasting methods. Why this is so I cannot
>> say.
>
>
> This is accurate. The problem is that none of the foods you suggest
> provide any significant amount of n-3 PUFA. Fat from game meat or grass
> finished beef/bison (Preferrably pasture fed) contains very little n-3.
> Fat from corn finished beef contains practically none.  Coconut oil
> contains practically none, but is high in lauric acid which has been
> shown to have several health benefits (Despite being one of those evil
> saturated fats.) Olive oil contains mostly oleic acid, a MUFA and the
> most prevelent fatty acid in nature (A very healthy fat also found in
> almonds and macedemia nuts.) Olive oil contains practically no n-3.
> Eating these foods is very good for you, and very Paleo, but eating
> these foods alone will still leave you with a deficiency of n-3 relative
> to n-6.
>
> Also, olive oil isn't much more Paleo than flaxseed. According to
> wikipedia, the process of fermenting olives to make them edible and
> extracting the oils probably began in the first millenium BCE, but there
> is some evidence they were consumed as early as the Middle Bronze Age
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive). This article on flaxseed
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaxseed) suggests that it was cultivated
> for linen approximately 5000 years ago (Though it does not mention when
> it was first used as a food.) The use of hemp, including the seed,
> *does* go back to Paleo times. Incidentally, hempseed oil has an n-6:n-3
> that is ideal for human consumption. Unfortunately, it is used less
> frequently today for purely political reasons.
>
>
Excellent post, Adam.   Maybe I'll go back to taking hemp oil in order
to supplement my Omega-3 intake.  I always did prefer its nut-like taste
over flax anyway.  Thanks for that info.