Books : The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them (California Studies in Food and Culture)
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 362
EAN num: 9780520253803
ISBN number: 0520253809
Label: University of California Press
Manufacturer: University of California Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 232
Printing Date: January 30, 2008
Publishing house: University of California Press
Sale Popularity Level: 84469
Studio: University of California Press
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A nutritional whodunit that takes readers from Greenland to Africa to Israel, The Queen of Fats gives a fascinating account of how we have become deficient in a nutrient that is essential for good health: the fatty acids known as omega-3s. Writing with intelligence and passion, Susan Allport tells the story of these vital fats, which are abundant in greens and fish, among other foods. She describes how scientists came to understand the role of omega-3s in our diet, why commercial processing has removed them from the food we eat, and what the tremendous consequences have been for our health. In many Western countries, epidemics of inflammatory diseases and metabolic disorders have been traced to omega-3 deficiencies. The Queen of Fats provides information for every consumer who wants to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and obesity and to improve brain function and overall health. This important and compelling investigation into the discovery, science, and politics of omega-3s will transform our thinking about what we should be eating.
* Includes steps you can take to add omega-3s to your diet
* Shows why eating fish is not the only way, or even the best way, to increase omega-3s.
* Provides a new way to understand the complex advice about the role and importance of fats in the body
* Explains how and why the food industry has created a deadly imbalance of fats in our foods
* Shows how omega-3s can be reintroduced to our diet through food enrichment and changes in the feeding of livestock
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Rated by buyers 
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This book doesn't talk down to the reader on a subject that is quite complex, yet makes it understandable to someone with only high school chemistry -- and that many decades ago! It is also a topic of great importance.
Rated by buyers 
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This book provides an excellent historical perspective on the discovery of and current understanding of Omega-3 and -6 Fatty Acids. I think it is extremely valuable for anyone interested in why diseases of the heart and diabetes are so rampant today.
Unfortunately, it could have done better at helping us understand "what we can do to replace them". The American public needs better resources on how to make changes rather than understanding so much of the "why" behind them.
Definitely worth the read, unless you seeking avenues for changing your diet to improve your intake of Omega-3's.
Rated by buyers -
Fascinating reading, couldn't put it down. A well documented history of the research on omega 3's,6's,&9's with an index. I've read many articles on the omega fats, this filled in the gaps & explained much that I didn't understand before. From a diabetic's point of view, this is an important read. Don't be intimidated by the chemistry in this book, the author explains it very well. Glad I own it!
Rated by buyers -
Susan Allport is neither a physician nor a nutritionist, but a journalist by profession. As she points out, this may make her less biased and able to take a broader perspective in recounting the development of, and explaining in lay terms, a dietary concept with far-reaching health implications: that an imbalance of certain essential fatty acids in our diet is a fundamental factor in the development of many chronic diseases, particularly coronary heart disease.
Michael Pollan, also a journalist, cites and summarizes her book in his better-selling review of modern nutrition, In Defense of Food. This is what led me to purchase Allport's book. Unfortunately, she does not have Pollan's gift for prose, but by examining in greater depth what he refers to as a possible "unifying hypothesis" of the effects of diet on modern disease, she makes up in content for whatever she lacks in style. Even if omega-3 fatty acids do not ultimately prove to be as critical to human health as she suggests, her book is worth reading as a fascinating account of how new insights into the role of nutrition in health are still being worked out, and the time and research it takes to overcome existing dogma. For practical application of these ideas, with less emphasis on their historical evolution, I would recommend Artemis Simopoulos' The Omega Diet.
I particularly liked the way she told the story from the point of view of the maverick researchers involved, showing how much patience and dedication it takes to not just discover new ideas, but have them heard and accepted. Many interesting facts are sprinkled along the way, from the rarity of diabetes among Eskimos, to the differences in cell membranes between emus and hummingbirds, and why we should care. Bravo to the people who ask these questions and to Susan Allport for informing us of the answers!
Rated by buyers 
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Here is a history of research leading to the discoveries that linoleic acid, an omega-6 type, is essential in diet in small amounts, and the later finding that linolenic acid, an omega-3 type, is also essential, and no longer found in desirable amounts in our diets. The latter is converted to the very valuable EPA and DHA, which may also be eaten as fish oil or as supplements. The omega-3s in adequate amounts are said to prevent heart attacks, obesity and cancer, at the least. Advice on what foods to eat or avoid is given in a clear, if not totally evidence-based manner. How to have one's own blood tested for omega levels is given. The fairly recent discoveries are presented that linoleic acid is converted to eicosanoids that cause inflammation vs. eicosanoids that cause relaxation from omega-3s. An important angle, if true, was that a high level of omega-6s in the diet will partially prevent the conversion of plant omega-3 (linolenic) to EPA and DHA.
The writing is very easy to read, very well-edited, and the diagrams and photos are adequate. There is an adequate index, but the citations are not numbered in the text, but are together near the end by page number, which makes it harder to check claims. Many claims which which were considered too proven to have citations were not actually proven or bolstered with citations.
Some angles in Queen are new to me, but the very first popular book on the desirability of omega-3s may have been: Enter the Zone, by Barry Sears, PhD, and Bill Lawren, New York, NY:Regan/HarperCollins, 1995. In his The Omega Rx Zone, 2002, the omega-3 and -6 fatty acid message is greatly improved, but the message on saturated fats was not. So Allport has not contributed much that is original. My opinion is that one of the best books on omega-3s in the diet is The Modern Nutritional Diseases by Alice & Fred Ottoboni.
Unfortunately, there was considerable misdirection. The Seven-Country Study by Ancel Keys that was so influential (cholesterol and saturated fat being "bad") was not presented as the fraud it was. For a great description, see The Great Cholesterol Con (GCC), by Anthony Colpo (2007). For an honest Fourteen Country Study see another GCC of 2007, this one by Malcolm Kendrick, in which Kendrick showed that the 7 countries with the lowest saturated fat consumption had the highest mortality from heart disease (450/100,000 per year), while the 7 countries with the highest saturated fat intake had the lowest mortality from heart disease (170/100,000). See also The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov, 2000. Low-carb high-fat diets were ridiculed from start to finish as destructive and a fad, despite overwhelming evidence that they are not. See Nielsen JV, Joensson EA, Low-carbohydrate diet in type 2 diabetes. Stable improvement of bodyweight and glycaemic control during 22 months follow-up, Nutrition & Metabolism 2006;3(22) doi:10.1186/1743-7075-3-22. While Allport may be correct in claiming that omega-3s will prevent or reverse diabetes (and she is not always clear on which type), the evidence is clear that type-1 is much more easily controlled with a low-carb high-fat diet, and type-2 may be controlled so well on a low-carb diet that no medication is needed. See Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, rev. ed. by Richard K. Bernstein, MD, Boston, MA:Little, Brown, 2003. So Allport's recommendation to eat large amounts of fruit (p139) could be a disaster for diabetics. Eskimos are often obese albeit healthy, so omega-3s for weight loss seems too much to claim. And she seems unaware of the prevalence of grain allergies. See Natural Health & Weight Loss, Barry Groves, 2007; Know Your Fats by Mary G. Enig, 2000. Also Allport seems to equate eating linolenic acid as the equivalent of eating EPA and DHA in fish, and does not recommend supplements of the latter two. Neither idea had any supporting evidence presented. Nor was the ideal range of omega-3 intake given. A study of the conversion of radioisotopically-labeled linolenic acid to EPA in humans showed poor conversion, and even poorer conversion to DHA. Adequate intakes of pre-formed DHA are needed for good health. See Burdge G, alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism in men and women: nutritional and biological implications, Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2004;7:137-144.
A list of 67 more errors may be obtained from kauffman@bee.net. Thus this book is not recommended.
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