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| PUBLICATION: |
Vancouver Province |
| DATE: |
May 6, 1987 |
| AUTHOR: |
Al Arnason, Staff
Reporter |
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Crusade
for "Good" Fats
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Vancouver,
BC -- There are fats that kill and fats that heal.
That's the shortest way Udo Erasmus has to describe his
primary personal interest.
It's a nutritional principle that has dominated much of his life since
he left university with a B.Sc. in zoology (just before the MA thesis stage
in biochemistry and genetics) and after a year of medical school.
He said most people eat too many of the deadly fats and not enough of the
essential ones because they don't know the difference.
Erasmus blames
fat imbalances, at least in part, for most degenerative
diseases - cancer, coronary heart disease, arthritis,
multiple sclerosis and others.
He is quick to note that he is a nutrition writer and lecturer -
not a physician - but says it is important to follow the now commonplace
medical edict against eating too much fat, especially animal fats.
"But what hasn't had a lot of coverage is that there are some fat substances
that we absolutely must have in order to live. Getting those substances into
our bodies is even more important than getting away from the fats that cause
problems," Erasmus said recently in an interview. |
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He said two beneficial products are fat components called essential fatty
acids. One is omega-3 (alpha linolenic acid) and the other is omega-6 (linoleic
acid).
Some public attention has been focused on fatty fish as a source of omega-3
fatty acid. But Erasmus said the richest source of the product is flax
seed oil (not linseed oil) - provided the ingredient has not been destroyed
by light, heat, oxygen, adulteration, processing or simply too much time
on the shelf.
(He noted that some racial groups, primarily those genetically adapted
to marine nutrients, may not be able to metabolize the flax oil source
omega-3).
Although optimal health is dependent on getting an optimal amount of all
nutrients, he said. The lack of essential fatty acids is the biggest single
nutrient deficiency of our time... |
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research articles, scientific studies, athlete statements
and publications by Udo
Erasmus.
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