Pigs That Are Enriched With Fish Oil
I have a good friend who is a native of Minnesota, originally from a little town near the border of Canada. It’s so cold there in the winter that he moved away, right after high school graduation, and became a happy Floridian.
He does make it back to Minnesota every once in a while and plans his visits for the summer, when at least it’s halfway warm. I heard from him today and he told me about a study that was done at the University of Minnesota.
I wondered if perhaps the study was performed on the voters in Minnesota to determine why in the world they would elect both Al Franken as senator and Jesse Ventura as governor.
Researchers at the U managed to isolate a a gene from a species of nematode worm that codes an enzyme involved in the conversion of omega 6 fats…found in many grains…into heart healthy omega 3s. The idea was not to produce omega 3 enriched pigs for consumption, although that may be a future possibility.
In case you didn’t know this, Brother Pig has a circulatory system very similar to humans, and scientists wanted to investigate the effects of internally produced omega 3 fats compared with omega 3 fats in the diet.
There have been many studies completed which have shown the benefits of omega 3s, particularly in heart health, with results concluding that omega 3s can reduce the chance of sudden death due to heart attack, most probably by slowing down the heart rate. These beneficial omega 3 fatty acids are found in pharmaceutical grade fish oiul.
An important study was done in Italy which lasted 3 1/2 years and concluded that there was a considerable decrease in the death rate from heart attack in patients who took fish oil every day. The death rate was actually reduced by 50%.
Omega 3s have been shown to increase levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol.
Omega 3s have also been show to decrease levels of triglycerides.
There is even data that shows that omega 3s can help lower the risk of eye problems such as macular degeneration.
There is also evidence to show that DHA, (docosahexaenoic acid), can possibly protect the brain from succumbing to dementia.
Eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA has been shown to increase the elasticity of the arteries.
The Omega 3s come from small chain fish, anchovy, and sardines, not salmon. Salmon production was one of the reasons that the Minnesota researchers were looking at the production of omega 3 pigs.
Will we ever produce Omega 3 pigs?
There is no concrete answer right now, but isn’t it fun to think about getting your daily doses of EPA and DHA from your breakfast bacon, or your barbecued ribs? Until we know for sure, don’t forget to take your fish oil the sensible way: by soft gel.