On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 360
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HealthBenefits
Likemeats,fishandshellfisharegood
sourcesofprotein,theBvitamins,andvarious
minerals.Iodineandcalciumarespecial
strengths.Manyfishareverylean,andso
offerthesenutrientsalongwithrelativelyfew
calories.Butthefatofoceanfishturnsoutto
beespeciallyvaluableinitsownright.Like
otherfatsthatareliquidatroomtemperature,
fishfatsareusuallyreferredtoas“oils.”
The Benefits of Fish Oils As we’ll see (p.
189), life in cold water has endowed sea
creatures with fats rich in unusual, highly
unsaturatedomega-3 fatty acids. (The name
means that the first kink in the long chain of
carbonatomsisatthethirdlinkfromtheend;
seep.801.)Thehumanbodycan’tmakethese
fatty acids very efficiently from other fatty
acids, so our diet supplies most of them. A
growing body of evidence indicates that they
happen to have a number of beneficial
influencesonourmetabolism.
Onebenefitisquitedirect,theothers
indirect.Omega-3fattyacidsareessentialto
thedevelopmentandfunctionofthebrainand
theretina,anditappearsthatanabundancein
ourdiethelpsensurethehealthofthecentral
nervoussystemininfancyandthroughoutlife.
Butthebodyalsotransformsomega-3fatty
acidsintoaspecialsetofcalmingimmunesystemsignals(eicosanoids).Theimmune
systemrespondstovariouskindsofinjuries
bygeneratinganinflammation,whichkills
cellsinthevicinityoftheinjuryin
preparationforrepairingit.Butsome
inflammationscanbecomeself-perpetuating,
anddomoreharmthangood:most
importantly,theycandamagearteriesand
contributetoheartdisease,andtheycan
contributetothedevelopmentofsome
cancers.Adietrichinomega-3fattyacids
helpslimittheinflammatoryresponse,and
thuslowerstheincidenceofheartdiseaseand
