Hi Judy,

  You said:

<<...how do I interpret this chart?  I guess my
question is  in the scheme of foods that we eat on the paleo diet, do sea
vegetables contain considerable levels of  Omega 3's?>>


  Sea vegetables contain small amounts of omega-3's - not enough to make
them your major source.  The ratio of 6's to 3's heavily favors the 3's.

As far as reading the chart, my comments are enclosed in  brackets [ ]:


Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated  g 0.013
4:0  g 0.000
6:0  g 0.000
8:0  g 0.000
10:0  g 0.000
12:0  g 0.000
14:0  g 0.001
16:0  g 0.012 [palmitic acid]
18:0  g 0.001 [stearic acid]
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated  g 0.006
16:1 undifferentiated  g 0.002 [omega-9 palmitoleic acid]
18:1 undifferentiated  g 0.002 [omega-9 oleic acid]
20:1  g 0.002
22:1 undifferentiated  g 0.000
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated  g 0.022
18:2 undifferentiated  g 0.001  [omega-6 linoleic acid]
18:3 undifferentiated  g 0.000
18:4  g 0.000
20:4 undifferentiated  g 0.002 [omega-3 ETA]
20:5 n-3  g 0.019 [omega-3 EPA]
22:5 n-3  g 0.000
22:6 n-3  g 0.000


  The essential fatty acids in this profile are the 18:2 omega-6 and the
20:5 omega-3.
The problem with the USDA charts is that they are infamous for their
"undifferentiated" designation.  This can hide trans-fat as 16:1 and 18:1
can also be used as designations for trans-fats palmitelaidic and elaidic
acids.  Proper nomenclature of these would be 16:1 omega-9t and 18:1
omega-9t.  Because of their one double bond, they are considered
unsaturated.  They can appear to act like both saturated and unsaturated
fats, but their actions are harmful.  Because of their trickster nature, and
the slowness of conventional science and the government in making changes
when we become aware of them, the 'undifferentiated' designation remains in
USDA database charts.

Siobhan