The $64.00 question

Back in the days when $64.00 actually meant something big there was a game show called the $64 Question in which contestants would try to answer various questions with various degrees of difficulty. Since school-days are now waning, I thought it might be fun and educational to deal with some of the burning nutrition questions that I’m most often asked, in the hope that the answers will help you readers in your quest for nutrition knowledge.

1. Should I be taking a fish-oil supplement? The answer, as you’ll see applying to many of the questions is: “it depends”. Are you a person who routinely eats fatty fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel, or is fish just one of those foods that you never, never eat. If the latter applies to you, then yes, it would be wise to take fish-oil supplements. And, incidentally, fish oil is better for you than flax oil because the rate at which the alpha linolenic acid in flax oil is converted into the important ingredients EPA and DHA is very slow. There’s an important qualifier here, however, and that is that the more fish oil one consumes, the greater is the need for vitamin E and its antioxidant activity. So make sure that your fish oil contains alpha-tocopherol (a form of vitamin E) or that you’re ingesting roughly 100 IUs of vitamin E per day, perhaps in your multi-vitamin pill.
2. Should I be concerned about the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids/omega-6/linoleic acid I’m consuming? In a word: Yes. Especially if you’re not a fish eater or taker of fish-oil supplements (see above). Part of the problem is that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 (fish oil) is crucial to health and as trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oil/shortening) are taken out of manufactured foods (or home-made pies, for that matter), they are being replaced by oils rich in omega-6…causing further imbalance to an already top heavy ratio of these fats. I realize this may sound complicated, but the fact is that we need to be eating more fatty fish and less oils like corn, sunflower, safflower, soybean and the like. Olive oil and canola would be my choice when you have to use an oil. The other part of the problem is that, aside from this ratio business, excessive intake of linoleic acid on its own can pose serious health threats. A hundred years ago your great grandmother wasn’t cooking with vegetable oil for a very good reason: nobody could squeeze a corn cob. It wasn’t until technology came up with a way to express these oils that we started to consume them big time, and as the unwarranted fear of animal fats took hold, veggie oil consumption sky-rocketed. I’m not saying you should never use the stuff, but be conscious of how much you’re using in things like frying, salad dressings, deep-fried foods and the like.
3. Do I really need 8 glasses of water per day. Answer: NO. In fact you don’t need any water per day…what you need is the equivalent of 8 cups (250 mL) of fluid on a daily basis and that can come from a variety of beverages like milk, fruit juice, even tea and coffee, plus fruit and vegetables. Even bread and meat and cheese contain some fluid. A recent study showed that, in fact, milk was better at re-hydrating athletes and the elderly than the so-called sports drinks. So, yes, fluid is very important, but you don’t need to be beating a path to the bathroom to get rid of those eight glasses of water.
4. Is sugar evil and should I replace it with more natural foods like honey or maple syrup? Another “it depends”. If your diet is based on Twinkies and Coke (which I doubt, since you wouldn’t be reading this blog) then for you the word “evil” may well apply. For the rest of us, sugar supplies energy (read calories), makes it easier to get some foods down, like oat bran, and in general sweetens our life a bit. You can have two much of a good thing, however, and that’s when trouble starts. As for foods like honey or maple syrup, they provide different flavours and many people enjoy them, but they’re still basically sugar. I’ve heard the argument that honey is better because it contains nutrients and that’s true, but unless you’re a bee, the nutrients won’t do you much good since they’re present in such miniscule amounts.
5. Is all the hype about tea warranted? Not quite. It is true that tea contains antioxidants and can make a contribution to the diet in that sense, but a lousy diet plus tea is still a lousy diet. In other words, in order for tea to deliver its best shot, you need to be minding your p’s and q’s in other areas of healthy eating. The “Cliff Claven” in me (remember Cheers?) wants to point out that a little known fact is that heart disease and cancer are the main killers in China, which also has among the greatest tea consumption per capita. Other big tea-consuming regions are Scotland and England, which have among the highest incidence of heart disease in the world. Certainly tea is a fine beverage, helps with our fluid intake and, as stated, is chock full of antioxidants, but don’t expect miracles.