changes in food supply due to climate change

Drought in the US has wiped out 45% of the maize and 35% of the soya bean crop in the worst harvest since 1988. Pig farmers are using more anchovies because maize is now too expensive. Salmon farmers are using more anchovies because warmer seas mean the salmon are growing faster. Anchovies are increasing in price because pig and salmon farmers want more of them, but also because of storms, Peruvian government quotas, and organic farmers wanting more fish meal as fertiliser. Anchovies should not be used for animal feed, let alone fertiliser; it is a complete waste.

Salmon prices have dropped dramatically. Fish oil, used as a nutritional supplement, will increase in price. Burgers will increase in price. Mackerel are being overfished because warmer waters mean that they're moving further north into Icelandic and Faroese waters. All this I have learned from this Guardian article Anchovy price leap causes food industry chain reaction. Elsewhere I have learned that the price of lobsters has plummeted because of warmer seas.

Whey to go

Last month I wrote about a product that I saw advertised on a poster in the window of a health food shop. This is Udo's Oil, a blend of vegetable oils supposed to be beneficial for health. I've had a closer look at this poster and just next to it I've seen another poster, advertising Solgar 'Whey To Go' protein powder. It shows a picture of the product and a 'Whey Of Life' recipe book.

In Britain whey has always been regarded as a by product of the cheese making industry and was fed to pigs. In the Mediterranean world it was made into ricotta. I have noticed for many years that whey has been sold to body builders as a source of protein. Body builders (probably incorrectly) think that they need more protein so they can build bigger muscles.

The poster does not state that people would benefit from more protein. That would be untrue. What it does say is 'As recommended by OK! magazine and Health & Fitness magazine as a must-have product'. Why these two magazines would say that is beyond me. They are giving people the false impression that they could benefit from more protein.

At best they are causing people to waste their money. Most people in Britain get at least double the amount of protein they need. More protein means more calories and so can contribute to obesity, but also there may be other problems. Your kidneys will have to work harder to get rid of the waste products of protein metabolism and some say more protein can make the body more acidic.

So it's another case of a company taking something cheap, processing it, packaging it and marketing it for a big profit. Just like Udo's Oil. I've been looking more closely at the poster for Udo's Oil.

"Udo's Oil - my top tip for healthy, glowing skin!" at the top of the poster followed by "as recommended by renowned make-up artist Jemma Kid" and a picture of Jemma looking very pretty out of doors with the wind blowing through her hair.

At the bottom of the poster it says "Udo's Choice (and then the trademark symbol) Omega 3.6.9 and more!". Omega-9 isn't an Essential Fatty Acid so a teaspoon or two of that isn't going to do much for you. We already get too much omega-6 so more can only harm you. The omega-3 is in the form of short-chain plant derived omega-3 which is of little use to the body. Many of these omega-3 containing products often don't have much omega-3 in them. All of them have calories that can contribute towards obesity.

The poster shows the box that the oil comes in. On the box it says that it is a blend of flax, sesame and sunflower seed oils, as well as a few other oils. It says it is a 2:1:1 ratio of omega 3.6.9 and "the ideal balance for today's low fat and Omega 3 deficient diets".

Sunflower oil is a cheap vegetable oil and like most vegetable oils is high in omega-6 (what we should have less of) and low in omega-3 (what we should have more of). Sesame oil is also low in omega-3. Hemp oil does have lots of omega-3.

The 2:1:1 ratio they mention doesn't make a lot of sense. The ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 is important, but omega-9 doesn't come into it. The more omega-6 we have in our diets the less our bodies can utilise omega-3. A 2:1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 would make sense, but only if they were talking about total fat intake. Because we get lots of omega-6 in the form of vegetable oils it would make more sense to take as much omega-3 in a supplement as possible, and as little omega-6.

So hemp oil as a supplement would make more sense. It would be cheaper too. Fish oil is better because it contains long chain omega-3. Vegetarians would not want to take fish oil or cod liver oil though. So don't be taken in by expensive products like Whey to go or Udo's Oil.

It's not just the manufacturers who annoy me. They confuse people about what they need to do to be healthy and make big profits. I am also annoyed by the magazines who recommend a product as a 'must-have product' when there is no evidence they will help people's health and evidence that it will harm them. I am also annoyed with celebrities like Jemma Kid. I am most annoyed by the so-called health food shops. People trust them and they are letting them down.

Udo's Choice Ultimate Oil Blend

Today I walked past a health food shop and I saw a poster advertizing 'Udo's Choice Ultimate Oil Blend'. The poster said that this oil is high in omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. In a previous post on this blog I pointed out that we already get too much omega-6 fatty acid.

Although omega-6 is an Essential Fatty Acid, the large amounts we already consume are harmful and more of it will only harm us more. The more of it we have the less our body can utilize omega-3. The type of omega-3 found in this type of oil blend is of very little use to the body.

Good nutritional advice is that we should reduce the amount of omega-6 we consume, by reducing the amount of vegetable oil, and increasing the amount of omega-3, particularly the long chain omega-3 that can only be obtained from eating oily fish or seafood or taking fish oil or cod liver oil.

Curiously, in an web page about Dr Udo Erasmus and his oil, Mary Shomon indicates that he understands this problem of too much omega-6.

According to Dr. Erasmus, since 1900, Omega 6 consumption has increased by about 20 times the previous levels, primarily because of increased use of certain vegetable oils in food preparation, while Omega 3s are now only 1/6 of previous levels. According to Dr. Erasmus, this means that we get too much Omega 6 and too little Omega 3 fatty acids.

And yet he is encouraging people to take more omega-6!

On his site it says that the price of a bottle of his oil blend is £10.99 for 250ml or £19.99 for 500ml. It says Its unique formulation will provide you with an excellent source of the unprocessed, readily utilised omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids that are vital for life. As part of a low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet these can contribute to improved cardiovascular and general health. This is misleading. More long-chain omega-3 and less omega-6 will lead to improved cardiovascular health. His blend will not.

I don't like people who make money by confusing people about their health and
selling them expensive useless products. I don't like the manufacturers and I don't like the so-called health food shops. My advice to people is to do what I do and buy fish oil capsules. They will be better for you and save you a lot of money.

And as for that Flora Cuisine, everything that I've said above applies to that too.

confusion over omegas

I have seen more and more products recently that are labeled as containing omega-3, 6 and 9. It's not just that they contain these but the labels state it prominently, as if it's a good thing. However, we should be consuming LESS omega-6 not MORE. This seems to be a case of manufacturers deliberately confusing people about their health so that they can increase their profits. People see the word 'omega' and they think it must be a good thing.

Oils containing lots of omega-3 and omega-9 fatty acids can be beneficial to health, but omega-6 is a very different matter. Although omega-6 is an essential fatty acid (EFA), so we need some, most people in the developed world get far too much of it.

Most people know that saturated fats are not healthy. They may also know that trans fats are also unhealthy. There are also healthy fats or oils. Olive oil and fish oil can be beneficial for health. Olive oil contains monounsaturated fatty acids, also known as omega-9. A fatty acid is part of a fat molecule. Fish oil contains the most beneficial forms of omega-3 fatty acids, long-chain fatty acids like DHA and EPA.

The problem with omega-6 is that the more of it we have the less our body can utilize omega-3. So not only do we not get enough omega-3 in our diet, especially from fish and sea food, but the large amounts of omega-6 we consume means that we can't utilize what little omega-3 we get. This leads to problems like inflammation.

We get most of our omega-6 from vegetable oil. Vegetable oil comes from various sources, often seeds such as sunflower seed. Fast food and processed food contain lots of vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is cheap, so it is easy for manufacturers to boast that their product contains omega-6. It is also easy for manufacturers to say that their product contains omega-3. Short-chain omega-3 can be obtained cheaply from vegetable sources. Not only is short-chain omega-3 of little use to the body, especially when we also eat lots of omega-6, these products contain very little omega-3.

So be very wary of manufacturers who boast about the omegas in their products. Manufacturers know what they are doing, they know that they are misleading people, but sometimes small shopkeepers get confused. In Brighton there is a new whole food shop near the station. They sell oil from stainless-steel urns. You can bring your own bottle and fill it up. They have olive, rapeseed and sunflower oils.

Their oil tastes delicious, but their labelling seems confused. They say that their rapeseed oil is high in omega 3, 6 and 9. However, the good thing about rapeseed oil is that is high in omega 3 and 9 and LOW in omega 6. If they wanted to be accurate, they should say that olive oil is high in omega 9 (or monounsaturated fatty acids), rapeseed oil is high in omega 3 and 9, and sunflower oil is high in omega 6. They could also say something about the different vitamin E levels.

I use olive oil and rapeseed oil. I am glad that rapeseed oil, especially cold pressed rapeseed oil, is becoming more available. I think it strange however that the manufacturers are marketing it as having less saturated fat than olive oil. Both olive and rapeseed oils are low in saturated fat so that it hardly makes a difference.

Could it be that the manufacturers have done a bit of research and found that the public don't know much about 'omegas'? The public don't know that a vegetable oil low in omega-6 is a good thing, but they do know that saturated fat is a bad thing. So they have decided to market the oil on the basis of it being lower in saturates than olive oil. Probably they are also calculating that they can take custom away from olive oil. They feel they are in competition with olive oil in a 'healthy oil' market.

I think it is despicable that manufacturers should try to confuse the public instead of trying to educate them. They are manipulative and care about their profits and not about public health. I think there should be stronger rules about labelling and advertizing so that they can no longer do this. I think that there should be more education of the public in these matters that are so important for their health, and this should start in schools.