We can serve the veggies raw in salads or they may be cooked. 

Ditch vegetable oils (omega-6 oils) in salad dressings and cooked veggies; substitute olive oil (omega-9 fat). 

Sprouts are power foods. 

Eating excess omega-6 oils in the form of vegetable oils is the one of the most important root causes of our high cholesterol levels and heart disease. (681, 864, 934) US citizens are flooded with excess vegetable oils (omega-6 fats or n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids PUFA). (1473) 

Our bodies only operate properly if we eat small amounts of omega-6 fats from fresh whole food sources preferably raw (about 4% to 7% of our calories). (1160) For peak performance, we need to eat equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fats in a 1:1 ratio. (862, 1473, 1474) This means if we eat 1 teaspoon of fish oil omega-3 fat EPA/DHA fat daily, it should be matched with 1 teaspoon of fat from fresh veggies or nuts with omega-6 fat (example 1 to 2 Brazil nuts per day, or 3 to 5 servings of fresh veggies per day). We can easily get too much if we add vegetable oils. (808, 862, 934) 

Omega-6 vegetable oils (soy oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, and grape seed oil) are cheap and are used extensively by the food industry and restaurants for baking, cooking, and frying. Eating out, eating school lunches, and buying vegetable oils that line our grocery store shelves has led to our over consumption of omega-6 oils. 

Sunflower seed oil composition varies depending on the variety of sunflower seed. 

Sunflower seed oils are made from the native American sunflower and are popular oils in Europe. The former Soviet Union is a major producer. There are many varieties of sunflower plants that produce oils with different compositions. Both high omega-6 linoleic acid 65% varieties and high omega-9 oleic acid about 82% varieties exist. The high omega-9 oleic acid versions are the results of mutational breeding. Non-mutated sunflower oil is primarily omega-6 linoleic acid vegetable oil. The high omega-6 linoleic acid variety grows in colder northern climates. The mutated omega-9 oleic acid varieties grow in warmer southern climates like Florida. The composition of unrefined sunflower oil is 68% omega-6 linoleic acid fat, 19% omega-9 oleic acid fat, 7% palmitic acid, 5% stearic acid, and less than 1% linolenic acid. We suggest skipping sunflower oil because as we will see in the next section omega-6 fats are not stable in bottles. Fresh native American sunflower seeds are a healthy snack. (681) 

Vegetable oils (omega-6 PUFA oils) are rancid. 

Vegetable oils (omega-6 fats) become rancid quickly when bottled. (806, 681)  Omega-6 oils are unstable oils and cannot be preserved safely as oils. Vegetable oils are only stable while they are in the whole fresh plant. Upon removal from the plant, they oxidize rapidly and are a substrate for lipid peroxidation and free radical formation. They become rancid smelling quickly and this is likely main reason historic civilizations did not trade them in commerce. (862) During the industrial revolution, manufacturers developed ways to add deodorizers to these oils so we cannot smell their rancidity, but they are likely rancid by the time they are bottled. Free radicals in rancid fats are dangerous rogues that can cause random damage, accelerating aging and causing mutations that may lead to cancer. 

Omega-6 fats should only be eaten in fresh whole vegetables and whole seeds and nuts that have been stored at cool temperatures where nature successfully prevents their oxidation and prevents them from becoming rancid. 

Omega-6 fats are the pilot light that ignites inflammation, a healing and repair process. 

Omega-6 vegetable fats from fresh whole food sources are essential fats and one of their key roles is to ignite inflammation in the body when we need to heal from a wound, infection, cancer, or stress. However, if we have too much omega-6 vegetable oil in our body it can potentially prolong inflammation or turn it into chronic inflammation. (911) 

Chronic inflammation can result in extra scar tissue formation, a constant state of stress without rest, and prevent our return to the normal non-inflammatory state. An example of extra scar tissue in heart disease is atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries” where constant repair and remodeling of atherosclerotic plaque in blood vessels may occur. 

Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and autoimmune diseases share chronic inflammation as a prominent feature. Our risk of chronic inflammation is accentuated if omega-6 fat intake is not in balance with omega-3 EPA/DHA fat intake. 

Omega-6 fats are the “ON SWITCH” for inflammation in the body. 

Why are we at risk of chronic inflammation if our omega-6 fat intake is high and omega-3 EPA/DHA fat intake is low? 

Short term, inflammation is the healthy process the immune system uses to coordinate several types of healing in the body ranging from repairing tissues after a cut or trauma, ridding the body of infections, fighting/preventing cancer, and even managing mental stress. Inflammation is normal and healthy, provided we can switch off inflammation once the repair is complete. But omega-6 fats are only the “on switch”. Omega-6 fats cannot “turn off” inflammation, they can only start the inflammatory process. Excess omega-6 fats can fan the flames of inflammation at the risk of becoming the fuel of chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is characteristic of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and autoimmune diseases. (911) 

Omega-3 fats (fish oil EPA/DHA) are the “OFF  SWITCH” for inflammation in the body. 

Omega-3 fats (EPA/DHA) are the unique fats that are the “off switch” for inflammation in the body once the repair work is completed. Omega-3 EPA/DHA fats flip the “off switch”. After a battle has been fought with inflammation, omega-3 EPA/DHA fats found primarily in wild caught fish or in smaller amounts in meats from grass fed animals are the pivot point that the immune system uses to communicate cell-to-cell that the repair process is complete and to “switch off” inflammation and pro-actively return to the body to the resting mode free of inflammation called homeostasis. 

Omega-3 EPA/DHA fats are responsible for forming novel chemical mediator families, termed Resolvins (Rv) and Protectins (PD), that are potent stereoselective agonists that control the duration and magnitude of inflammation, along with the Lipoxins as signals in resolution. (911) Antush M, et al, J Indian Soc Priodontol 2010 (911). The omega-3 EPA/DHA team actively resolves and cleans up inflammation, and finally brings the body back to the resting normal state of homeostasis so it is free of inflammation. If we do not have excess levels of omega-6 fats (vegetable oils) in our body, the body is able to convert plant sources of short chain omega-3 ALA fat to the bioactive long chain omega-3 fats EPA/DHA. (1473) The fascinating story of how fish and omega-3 EPA/DHA fats actively resolve inflammation and return the body to the resting state of homeostasis is described in Part II of this book, Fish Oil: A Whale of a Story.

Ideal omega-6 fat to omega-3 fat ratio is 1:1 and the history of the ratio. 

“It takes two to tango.” Dancing the tango does not work with 20 men and 1 woman. Tango is danced with a 1:1 ratio, the perfect balance. Our ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fat should be 1:1 not 20:1 like most Americans have. 

Select immune system communications are carried on at a cell-to-cell level. When the work is complete at a repair scene in the body, the omega-6 repair team boss calls the omega-3 fish/fish oil team owner, and tells him to come and resolve the trash, cleanup, and make ready for rest and relaxation (homeostasis). It is a one-on-one conversation between team owners of equally matched teams. The communication requires the use of something like an omega-3 fish oil cell phone and omega-3 fish oil communication services. If the body is flooded with omega-6 vegetable oils and is deficient in omega-3 EPA/DHA fat (from fish/fish oil and grass fed meats) the communication required to end inflammation and resolve inflammation may not be completed and the body may not be returned to resting state. Chronic inflammation may set in along with continual remodeling. Omega-6 fat to omega-3 EPA/DHA fat balance of 1:1 has been maintained in historic cultures from 1900 AD back to 8000 BC and to prehistoric times. We know from archeology findings. (808, 862) 

High intake of vegetable oil puts the body in a constant "fight or flight" mode termed "chronic inflammatory state".

Israel, the US, and Western countries have tipped the balance for the first time beginning in 1920 and accelerating in the 1950s and forward. Our ratio of omega-6 fat to omega-3 fat is about 20:1. Rest and full recovery are not as likely when our omega-6 fats in our body outnumber our omega-3 EPA/ DHA fats. Current average Americans’ omega-6 fat exceeds by 20X their omega-3 EPA/DHA fat. For health, we need to have equal amounts of these fats in a 1:1 ratio in our body. (808, 862) Eating too many vegetable oil omega-6 PUFA fats fans too many inflammation fires. The evidence is diets high in vegetable oil omega-6 fats are linked to chronic inflammation in heart disease, death due to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Meta-analysis, Ramsden CE, et al, Br J Nutr. 2010 (934) Yam D, et al, The Israeli Paradox, Isr J Med Sci 1996 (864) 

We are the experiment. We are the first generations not to depend on fresh food sources for our omega-6 fats. We eat rancid omega-6 vegetable oils (PUFA) that have been deodorized and stored in plastic bottles. The free radicals continue to form in the bottles on the shelf and are reported to continue forming in our bodies after we eat omega-6 vegetable oils. Free radicals can fan inflammation and cause mutations inviting tumors. (862) 

Industry tries to sell us on the idea that they have figured out a way to “stabilize some omega-6 vegetable oils”. But all they have done is figure out a way to add deodorizers or make them into trans fats or molecules similar in function to trans fats with long names. The deleterious effects of trans fats are discussed in the next section. A significant amount of our omega-6 fats from vegetable oils are trans fats. These foods include margarines, Crisco, and almost all convenience foods found in the center aisles of our grocery stores. Most of them contain some form of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, esterified or interesterified fats that are similar in action to trans fat. 

About 90% of our bottled omega-6 vegetable oils are from GMO sources (corn, soy, and cottonseed oils). Regular sunflower oils are primarily omega-6 (linoleic acid) and are not stable, become rancid and form dangerous free radicals. Hybrid sources of sunflower oil are made from mutated seeds. 

Our next blog will be:  Hidden Sources of Omega-6 Fats.