Best Health Oil is Omega 3

Fats, good and bad, are a key component of our diet, so it is vital to understand the differences between them. It's also important to understand that fats are necessary for a balanced diet and vital to our health. Fats are a way of storing energy. Our love, craving and desire for fats is a genetic componet of our physical make-up, genetically coded millions of years ago.

Fat is stored in the body as a way of storing energy for future needs. You can think of burning ti in the same way as we burn a candle. Our bodies don't have a flame, but we do produce heat. This heat keeps the organism alive. The heat also produces carbon dioxide (just like a candle) which is exhaled in respiration.

Fat is also useful as an insulator. Large marine mammals, and burds such as ducks and geese, can thrive in freezing water due to their thick layer of fat and still preserve a warm inner body temperature.

Dietary fat occurs naturally and chemically in our food. All fats belong to a family of compounds called triglycerides. Triglyceride is like a capital E, with the three branches made up of a chain of carbon atoms of varying length. If all three branches are 16 carbon atoms long, you have palmitic acid, found in olive oil. Changing the length of the carbon branches to 12 carbons gives lauric acid, found in coconuts. So the length of the carbon chain, and whether all three branches are the same length gives the fats their unique properties. The natural fats and oils we eat are almost always mixtures of several fats.

If we think of these branches as a chain, palmitic acid would have 15 links, with one extra carbon for the acid group. Some fats however, have a double bond in the chain... think of it as two links of the chain side by side, with the overall length unchanged. This double link means that the physical properties of the fat are changed.

More double bonds usually mane the oil is naturally in a liquid state. Less double bonds leads to an oil which is solid at room temperature, like lard and butter. Years ago, chemists discovered that they could add hydrogen to liquid, unsaturated fats, and turn them into a solid fat that was easier to store and did not spoil. Hence the invention of margarine and "Crisco". This also heralded in the era of the potato chip, french fries, and many of today's health problems!

This adding of hydrogen to vegetable oils is where the terms saturated, or hydrogenated, and unsaturated fats originated.

In a fat such as butter, these branches of the E, or the chain, are very short. This means that butter melts at a very low temperature. In fact your butter will melt at room temperature on a warm day (this also leads to a rancid oil very quickly, which is another article...) It also means that butter can easily be scorched and the molecule broken down at higher temperatures. This is why butter is very tricky to use for frying.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Chemistry uses Greek letters to tell us where the double bonds of a molecule are located. Omega-3 fatty acids have their double bond third from the end on the carbon chain resulting in the following:

• DHA
• EPA
• ALA

DHA and EPA are found in fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, and sardines. It is also high in Olive oil, Canola oil, and Oh Mega Oil. These fats have been linked, to benefits such as a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and other health problems.

ALA has not demonstreated such benefits, and is cheap to manufacture so you need to watch out. Many food manufacturers are claiming that their food contains omega-3 fatty acids, or they have added omega-3 to their product. However, make sure you read the fine print. If the label doesn't clearly mention DHA and EPA, it is likely the ALA acid, and the claim, while technically correct, likely results in minimal or no benefit. As well, check to see how much is in your food.

In the end, it is always safer to cook your own food, and find the most natural, pure ingredients. Sacha Inchi oil is proven and tested to be high in DHA and EPA. It also tastes good and is an excellent addition to your diet so we recommend it for all who are interested in increasting their levels of Omega 3 oils.