This information is in the nutrition counter that goes with the Eades
"Protein Power" book.


In a message dated 1/26/2002 4:20:15 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


One of the threads running through Loren Cordain's book is the Paleolithic
record of a diet with an n-6:n-3 ratio in the vicinity of 2:1.

Cordain provides ratios for some foods, but some of these are so unexpected
(for example, walnuts at 4.2:1 and Brazil nuts at 378:1) that there is no
way you could extrapolate from some prior knowledge of similar foods to a
broadly correct n-6:n-3 ratio.

So I checked the USDA nutrient data base site at
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl
ank keyed in <walnuts> and <Brazil nuts> and could find nothing there that
translated obviously to Cordain's reported ratio.

The USDA site is good for saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated
fats, but does not have anything that stands out to me,
not a biochemist,
as the n-6:n-3 ratio.

Can anyone help me with this?

My questions are:

1.  Does the USDA data base report on n-3 and n-6 fats?

2.  If it does, how do I derive that ratio from its analyses?

Keith