It’s more or less the same thing. I found it helpful to read them in parallel because the ideas of one reinforced the other. (And other ideas from Tucker and Brad.) QOF is much shorter (I listened to it in <4 hours) so it was easy for me to tack on.
Here’s what I learned in QOF that I didn’t (as much) in OB:
• Omega 3’s weren’t discovered to be essential until after the Food Guide Pyramid was created (so this absolves the USDA of some of the blame for missing the boat on them)
• The real reason omega-3’s are vanishing from the food supply is that they aren’t at all shelf stable. Makes it impossible to include them in processed foods.
• A lot more of the backstory on the Danish guys who went to Greenland and studied the Inuit there.
• Omega balance also seems to affect blood clotting. Excess arachidonic acid in the plasma causes blood to clot. This is why Inuits bleed easily and get lots of nosebleeds. It’s also a huge reason why Americans get heart attacks. (I know OB covered this, but I didn’t get the idea as clearly.)
• Fat gives food their flavors because aroma molecules are fat soluble, not water soluble. This is why fat is so key to processed foods
• Hydrogenation selectively destroys omega-3’s
• Not only has the food supply directly been favoring more and more omega-6, but it has also indirectly been favoring it with plants being bred to have lower levels of alpha-linolenic acid (e.g. spinach, soybeans, rapeseed). This implies that, looking over time within commodities, the omega balance has been going in the wrong direction over time.
• Fish are more sensitive to diet omega balance because they require more omega 3’s than other animals
• Even though QOF was written over 20 years ago, its truth has not spread because of economic incentives by food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.
• This is definitely a “Brad” idea, but QOF discussed that wild animals shift their diet omega balance towards omega 6’s prior to hibernation so that they can fatten up. A researcher at CU Boulder tried feeding yellow bellied marmots a high omega-3 diet right before hibernation, and they didn’t go into hibernation.
Do you recommend QoF? Would I learn much after reading OB?
It’s more or less the same thing. I found it helpful to read them in parallel because the ideas of one reinforced the other. (And other ideas from Tucker and Brad.) QOF is much shorter (I listened to it in <4 hours) so it was easy for me to tack on.
Here’s what I learned in QOF that I didn’t (as much) in OB:
• Omega 3’s weren’t discovered to be essential until after the Food Guide Pyramid was created (so this absolves the USDA of some of the blame for missing the boat on them)
• The real reason omega-3’s are vanishing from the food supply is that they aren’t at all shelf stable. Makes it impossible to include them in processed foods.
• A lot more of the backstory on the Danish guys who went to Greenland and studied the Inuit there.
• Omega balance also seems to affect blood clotting. Excess arachidonic acid in the plasma causes blood to clot. This is why Inuits bleed easily and get lots of nosebleeds. It’s also a huge reason why Americans get heart attacks. (I know OB covered this, but I didn’t get the idea as clearly.)
• Fat gives food their flavors because aroma molecules are fat soluble, not water soluble. This is why fat is so key to processed foods
• Hydrogenation selectively destroys omega-3’s
• Not only has the food supply directly been favoring more and more omega-6, but it has also indirectly been favoring it with plants being bred to have lower levels of alpha-linolenic acid (e.g. spinach, soybeans, rapeseed). This implies that, looking over time within commodities, the omega balance has been going in the wrong direction over time.
• Fish are more sensitive to diet omega balance because they require more omega 3’s than other animals
• Even though QOF was written over 20 years ago, its truth has not spread because of economic incentives by food manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.
• This is definitely a “Brad” idea, but QOF discussed that wild animals shift their diet omega balance towards omega 6’s prior to hibernation so that they can fatten up. A researcher at CU Boulder tried feeding yellow bellied marmots a high omega-3 diet right before hibernation, and they didn’t go into hibernation.
Very interesting, thanks!