Excess Omega 6 Intake Speeds Telomere Damage and Aging

[BABY1]

TweetWill the real evil fat please stand up? A new study shows that eating too much food of any type will shorten your telomeres and cause you to have accelerated aging. However, the worst type of food appears to be excess consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, not saturated fat.

The research evaluated the diets and measured telomere length at age 30, then repeated the measurements at age 42. Those who ate the most food had shorter telomeres, with omega-6 oils showing as the worst offenders.

Omega-6 fatty acids permeate the American food supply. You’ll find them in potato chips, corn chips, and French fries. They are often the base oil in many salad dressings. They are the primary fatty acid in corn oil, soy oil, and other vegetable oils. They are typically modified as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil for use in breads and packaged foods.

During human evolution the ratio of omega-6 oils to omega-3 oils (DHA and EPA) was 4 to 1. In Americans consuming the typical American diet that ratio is 20 to 1 or even worse. The imbalance of omega-6 oils to omega-3 oils causes many problems, since there is competition for enzymes and the relative lack of omega-3 tilts one’s body into an inflammatory condition. I have previously reported that omega-3 oils actually help preserve your telomeres.

Telomere length, a key marker of biological age, is shortened prematurely when an adverse state of biochemistry exists. Overeating in general is one way to shorten your telomeres, and excess consumption of omega-6 oils appears to be the fastest way to grow old in a hurry.



More...

[yamaha147]

TweetGREAT ARTICLE!

[Dzone]

TweetGreat article. So pigging out like I did yesterday during the super bowl is shortening the telomeres...Yikes! 20:1 r atio of omega 6 to omega 3 is crazy. The whole country is eating itself to death. Scary.

The imbalance of omega-6 oils to omega-3 oils causes many problems, since there is competition for enzymes and the relative lack of omega-3 tilts one’s body into an inflammatory condition. I have previously reported that omega-3 oils actually help preserve your telomeres.

[F E]

TweetGood to know as I have been researching Omega 3 and 6 today. I think I will only worry about buying Omega 3 DHA now and not a combo of the two.

FE