Out-of-Balance Omegas: How Seed Oils Fuel Inflammation and Ageing
Here's a little secret you won't hear often, mainly because big food corporations aren't fans of spreading it:
Out-of-Balance Omegas
Here's a little secret you won't hear often, mainly because big food corporations aren't fans of spreading it: every food we eat sends instructions to our body's biochemistry. Our bodies constantly create new cells, but what does our typical British diet tell them to do? Welcome to modern day inflammation, or as some call it, the era of ‘inflamm-ageing’.
First, let's get acquainted with omega-3 and omega-6. Omega-6 is like the body's handyman when you twist an ankle, break a leg, or face off with a nasty virus. Its mission? Create inflammation to protect the injured area. So, omega-6 is decidedly pro-inflammatory. On the flip side, omega-3 is the peacekeeper. It steps in to dial down the inflammation once it's no longer needed for your safety.
In an ideal world, our diets would maintain a balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Imagine enjoying organic beef from grass-fed cows, where the omega balance approaches 1 to 1 – a nutritional utopia. Yet, the reality shifts dramatically as we navigate the terrain of processed foods, where omega-6 dominates because of its prevalence in cheap ingredients and oils. Consequently, most of us unknowingly consume omega-6 at levels that dwarf omega-3 by approximately 15 times...
