Sure, we need omega-3; but we don’t need it from fish.

Let’s face it, the meat, eggs and dairy people don’t have many weapons in their arsenal when it comes to the health benefits of eating their food. Oh, you’ll hear them talk about protein, calcium, Vitamin B-12, and Vitamin D. But those are simple to explain—as we did in Chapter 3 of our book. But make no mistake, the human’s need for omega-3 fatty acids is their single best argument for eating any kind of flesh or animal products whatsoever—especially fish.

Bad news about animal foods. As Howard Lyman stated in his book, No More Bull, (See link below)

“The bad news about animal foods never ends. With a single exception. This exception naturally has been widely reported because it remains the only good news out there about any animal-based products. Mainstream publications hype this lonely positive item concerning animal food because they wouldn’t want to appear to be advocating a vegetarian diet.

Surely you’ve heard that fish, particularly fatty fish, is good for your heart. In fact, you’ve probably heard it about a million times. Is it true? Yes and no. (Howard goes on to explain and also to suggest healthy sources of plant-based omega-3.)

What about the bad news? Just recently there was an article in the New York Times entitled, Omega-3s Don’t Cut Diabetics’ Heart Risks (See link below). A large trial found that supplements of omega-3 did nothing to prevent cardiovascular problems in people with Type 2 diabetes. Now, with ten percent of the U.S. population afflicted with diabetes and moving rapidly toward one in three—this is not great news for the omega-3 supplement pushers. The article stated:

After an average follow-up of more than six years, they found that the omega-3 and placebo groups showed no difference in rates of heart attack or stroke, or in number of deaths from cardiovascular disease or arrhythmia. Rates of hospitalization for heart failure or other cardiovascular problems were nearly identical.

What does Dr. Campbell say about omega-3? He says it’s mainly about the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in our diet. And most Americans get too much of the omega-6 from their meat and dairy diet—making the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 too high. When they replace all that meat and dairy with whole plants (including things like flaxseeds, walnuts and chia), that ratio gets quickly into balance—without the fish or fish oils.

The Harvard School of Public Health

It gets worse. He also reports an alarming statistic from a Harvard Study regarding omega-3. From page 58 in our book:

Dr. Campbell also brings up a possible concern about consuming fish to get omega-3s. “If you’ve heard anything about omega-3 fatty acids, it’s that you need more of them to be healthy,” he says. Noting that you can’t always believe what you hear on the evening news, he offers the following from a 1999 Harvard study: “[C]ontrary to the predominant hypothesis, we found an increased risk of breast cancer associated with omega-3 fats from fish.”

The Bottom Line. We need omega-3, omega-6 and all the other essential vitamins. But we don’t need to get ANY of them from animals. And it’s a darn good thing, because our love affair with the meat, dairy, egg and fish diet-style is grossly unsustainable for much longer—for a host of reasons. 

• Source article from New york Times: Omega-3s Don’t Cut Diabetics’ Heart Risks
• Howard Lyman’s book for sale on Amazon: No More Bull (a great read)
• My omega-3 article on the Food Channel: What’s All the Fuss About Omega-3?

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

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Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation