We heavily subsidize the growth of foods (e.g., corn, soy) that in their processed forms (e.g., high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated corn and soybean oils, grain-fed cattle) are known contributors to obesity and associated chronic diseases, including cancer.

The problem with providing cheap food is that it has expensive consequences.

Yes, but cheap food is cheap food. And no one likes to feel like they could starve. The headlines lately that hunger is increasing in households: not a good thing to see. If there is hunger, because of poverty, in my household, particularly with children, I'm not going to be picky about putting 'inferior' foods on the table. I won't even DREAM of salmon three times a week.
I also saw, when Googling, that too much Omega-3 can bring on hemorrhagic stroke (however you spell that). And in thinking about the prison experiment, I can only comment that prisons are full of mentally ill people along with plain old mean and violent people. You could just as well say that the entire prison population could be medicated with a wonder drug more cheaply and efficiently. Then say that it should be supplemented, like Vitamin C, in whatever sells on grocery shelves. See how far you can get with that!

But if cheap food makes people ill and you have to pay more taxes to deal with those chronic conditions like obesity Diabetes, heart disease and cancer where is the saving.

Wouldn't it be smarter to subsidize healthy foods that don't make people ill and don't make them end up in prison?


but it's those cheap subsidized grains and inflammatory omega 6 oils that are addictive and make people hungry.
People who eat low carb foods don't get the same cravings for foods that have them eating every 3hrs.
Some here find they don't have to bother eating 3 main meals daily with snacks in between.
We find perhaps 2 meals a day is absolutely fine.
We save money by NOT EATING and without feeling hungry.

Cheap food drives hunger

Cheap foods are addictive.

That's because you lack the foresight to see the long term consequences of your actions.


And no doubt there are adverse consequences of too much sex. Too much of anything will be poisonous. The point about omega 3 is that it is satiating. You don't dream about it because it isn't addictive. Sure morons will go for the doughnuts and go back time and time again because they are too stupid to realize not only the consequences on their health but also they lack the ability to see they have become addicted to these foods.


Well I wouldn't choose Vitamin C,

But certainly I don't see it's a very smart idea to keep people deprived of vitamin D3, Omega 3 and magnesium for any period of time and then expect them to survive out of prison with brains that won't function properly.

If you starve a fetus of vitamin D3 in the womb it's brain doesn't develop properly and you end up with an autistic brain damaged person.
The consequences to the state's economy is enormous.

We lock up more brain damaged people than we do sane ones.

The consequences to the state's economy is enormous.

We keep these brain damaged people out of the sunlight, without sufficient vitamin d omega 3 and magnesium and guess what they become even more violent, even more aggressive and even less able to manage in society.

The consequences to the state's economy is enormous.

Why is feeding cheap food that makes people ill such a smart idea?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to decrease omega-6 intake than to increase omega-3 intake? Pork and beef are relatively cheap and have more saturated or monounsaturated fat than polyunsaturated.



I think that depends on how severe the hunger is. I think my kids would be better off eating hamburger once a day or even every other day, rather than rice and beans three times a day.

Food prices might be going up now, but food is still cheaper in the United States now than it has been for decades. What are they really saying behind those headlines?

There's a great interview in the movie "King Corn" with former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz. He's the one who repealed the Dust Bowl-era protections against overproduction that led to our current glut of HFCS and other corn-derived monstrosities. His sole justification was that he gave America cheap food. The movie makes it pretty clear how much we're paying for that "cheap food" now.

USA is about 16~20 omega to 1 omega 3 anything over 4 omega 6 ~ 1 omega 3 has adverse consequences to health.
We have to do both.
Reduce omega 6
Increase omega 3.
Immediately about 2g/daily omega 3 reduces stroke risk and CVD and improves outcomes for hospital interventions. That helps correct plasma levels but omega 6 has got to be reduced.


If they were grass fed grass finished they would be even better.

And over 3 g daily increases risk of hemorrhagic stroke, from what I read.

'I think my kids would be better off eating hamburger once a day or even every other day, rather than rice and beans three times a day.'
I wish hunger, taste, and appetite where that easy to control.

That's practically how my kids eat anyway. I think people take it for granted that kids have a sweet tooth or demand carby "comfort foods" when it's really not true. They get cravings like everyone else, but the cravings often go away when they switch to a nourishing diet.

Pity you can't find a link to the source.
In the meantime perhaps consider this evidence.
The Omega-3 Index: The higher, the better?

In fact it's probably worth your while reading all Dr Davis has to say on Fish oil

That used to be the case with my kids. They grew out of it. In the meantime, I saw lots of nourishing food thrown away at lunch time because kids just don't prefer that. Volunteer sometime at the lunch room of an elementary school and see what kids actually want to eat. I shudder to think what happened in middle school.
By college, they were starting to get picky about food - in their own way. Son prefers anything 'chicken-fried' and daughter goes on a vegetarian kick every year for awhile. Go figure. You have very little control over what they will try to eat, given the chance, when they get older (middle school, even... college, definitely).

It seems that adding omega 3's isn't enough. You need to delete omega 6's as well. It's a ratio thing. That's why it's not helpful to take a couple of fish oil capsules each day if you're eating huge amounts of processed foods. Your omega 6's will still outnumber your omega 3's.

Anyway they're probably not going to start adding omega 3's to processed foods. Omega 3's are less stable, and the food goes rancid faster. That's why they were removed in the first place.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/285/3/304
I saw the reference to 3 g/ day elevating the risk of hemorrhagic stroke in a couple of places but they may all be referring to the same studies.
The above article has the following caveat about that-
''While bleeding time is prolonged when the intake of omega-3 fatty acids exceeds 3 g/d,28, 39-40 a level of intake that corresponds approximately to the ingestion of fish 3 times or more per day. In this study of US women, fewer
than 0.1% ate fish 3 times or more per day.''
I take my fish oil in supplements - which is why I'm not eating fish 3 times or more per day. But it's good to know there is an upper limit to be aware of. They refer to studies that were done with people who eat fish a LOT - and then say, well, Americans don't eat fish that much so the studies don't apply.

I admit I don't have experience with older kids, and it's true you can't control what they eat. But you can control what you buy for them.

I tell my kids they don't have to eat what I make. I get mad if they take it and then don't eat it, but I'm fine with them skipping meals when they're not hungry.

I'm already seeing Omega-3s in new places. I think I saw them advertised on a bread bag (perhaps they used flax preparing the bread). I already buy eggs with omega-3.
The ratio stuff is important but I don't think anyone knows ratios unless they use that software tool from the NIH (mentioned in the talk). If food is fortified with omega-3s (cereal is, too, I've seen that...again, the flax seed!), and you continue to eat what you have been eating, you do change the ratios. If it's an additive thing - only adding supplements or adding some products to what you already eat, it does change ratios but not as much.

Unfortunately not all the omega 3 you see added to foods is actually going to be converted into the EPA and DHA your brain and heart requires.

The astrocytes in your brain that process ALA into EPA and then DHA can only do this if they have sufficient calcium. We only absorb and retain optimum amounts of calcium from our diet if we have a 25(OH)D3 level above 80nmol/l 32ng/ml. While health professionals give advice to people that leads to ever lower vitamin D levels and give people inaccurate information about how much vitamin D3 is required to have sufficient status to absorb/retain calcium we will continue to have a global population that is deficient not only in D3 but also omega 3.


Well that's a start. Now work out how much omega 3 (that's the DHA + EPA numbers added together) in one egg and tell me how many eggs you need to eat each day to obtain 1800mg of EPA+DHA.

Dr Davis offers an omega 3 index test. There is plenty of info about. If you just cut out the corn, soy, sunflower, canola, safflower sources you'll be well on your way.

You can change your plasma levels by adding 2g omega 3 daily but that may not feed through to tissue levels because the Omega 6 displaces the omega 3. Omega 6 takes the place that should be occupied by omega 3 that is why you have to cut out the Omega 6 down to just 4% of calories.


I also think it is wrong to place too much emphasis on one particular part of a problem.
Vitamin D3 is probably your best bet for reducing your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease because apart from it's natural anti inflammatory actions it allows you body to absorb optimum amounts of calcium and dietary calcium is better utlized than supplements. Having optimal calcium then allows your brain astrocytes to improve their metabolism of ALA to EPA and DHA.
Vitamin K2 and magnesium help also to keep calcium where it is meant to be.