Smart Balance oil/spread and Omega 3's

[snapdragon]

So do any of you scientific types out there know whether these are a good option? I have the Smart Balance cooking oil right now and bought it to cook with due to it being cheaper than using good olive oil in everything. I also need to have some way of getting Omega 3's into the rest of my family and fish oil capsules and eating fish every day is just not going to happen. If I can use this oil in their cooking I can sneak it in without comments from the peanut gallery. What do you all think?

[maxlharris]

I don't see why not, but you don't have to use EVOO for everything either. You can buy a fancy extra virgin olive oil for finishing, and cook with a virgin or later press olive oil for saute and other cooking applications.

How's it taste?

[Dodger]

I tend to avoid man-made foods that are patented. Smart Balance has 3 US patents on it; 5,578,334; 5,843,497 & 6,630,192.

The Omega-3s in Smart Balance are all Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). It contains no eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). While the human body can make some EPA and DHA from ALA, the conversion rate is very low and the rates I have seen have ranged from 6% to 0%.

There are certainly worse things to eat than Smart Balance and it is a source of ALA (as is flaxseeds, walnuts, and various oils such as Canola).

[Mitra]

How is its heat stability? I know flax & walnut aren't suitable for heating, but as this is being sold for cooking, I wondered if it's more stable?

[snapdragon]

Mitra, one reason I use it for the family is it tastes just like regular cooking oil. It can be used for baking and frying so heat stability should be fine. I wouldn't mind giving my LO's fish oil capsules but neither one can swallow a gel cap yet without choking or chewing it and once they taste the "fishy taste" they won't let me near them. Let me go read the bottle - it say's it's a "natural blend of canola, soy and olive oils" ingredients listed are natural vegetable oil blend canola,soy, olive and vitamin E. In a 1 tbs. serving the Omega 3 is listed as 1230 mg/servg. and Omega 6 3800 mg/servg. Omega 6/Omega 3 ratio is 3.1:1 I have my books packed so I can't really check how good that is:confused: .

[laughingW]

Snapdragon, I wouldn't use it because the GMO of soy oil (and maybe canola?) really creeps me out. Also the patent thing.

I would stick to organic oil for cooking and let them get their DHA from real fish. I think you would only have to serve it 2-3 times a week. My kids liked salmon loaf, fish tacos and tuna casserole.

Or, some families make protein shakes, Those creep me out too but you could put a drop of an oil blend in one of those. Starting with a clean, no sweetener whey-based shake like George's Junior from radiantrecovery.com

[snapdragon]

Sorry Laughing, wouldn't work at my house. My older son is Autistic and has not only food obsessions but also chokes very easily due to oral moter delays. I'm lucky if I can get them to eat tuna salad and fish nuggets (breaded). With them taste trumps health and I am not able to push the issue at this time.

[maxlharris]

Quick question, off the topic:

Why is a patent a bad thing?
Ditto GMO?

I can understand apprehension on GMO because you don't know enough. But rejection out of hand seems a little, how to put it gently, reactionary?

I suppose I could list the great medicines and food things that come from a lab (like Lite Salt and No-Salt), but why bother?

Have always been curious about this.

Snap - the lack of EPA and DHA would maybe cause me to refine my previous statement. Those are the keys, 3mg / day.

[snapdragon]

Hey Maxl, so the recommended amount is 3mg. EPA and 3mg. DHA a day? Can you clarify? Also, as a side note if I can't get them to eat the fish or capsules isn't the ALA a better choice than doing nothing?

[laughingW]

Sorry Laughing, wouldn't work at my house. My older son is Autistic and has not only food obsessions but also chokes very easily due to oral moter delays. I'm lucky if I can get them to eat tuna salad and fish nuggets (breaded). With them taste trumps health and I am not able to push the issue at this time.
Okay gotcha. My sympathies

One of the most creative things I've heard is popsicles where you slip the good stuff in the popsicle. Basic idea, put them in your normal recipes...

[maxlharris]

Hey Maxl, so the recommended amount is 3mg. EPA and 3mg. DHA a day? Can you clarify? Also, as a side note if I can't get them to eat the fish or capsules isn't the ALA a better choice than doing nothing?

Read in Men's Health that some protective effect or another came in at 3mg per day. The 3mg is any combination of EPA and DHA.

I would definitely say that ALA is better than NADA.

The Eades mention, in PPLP maybe (maybe in PP) about some lemon flavored cod oil or something they get. Maybe that's a solution.

Me, I'm for buying some cheap olive oil for saute and other cook applications and some EVOO for salad dressings, sauces and other places where it won't be cooked much.

[laughingW]

Quick question, off the topic:

Why is a patent a bad thing?
Ditto GMO?

I answered this in a new thread under "Dilettant, ..."

http://www.proteinpower.com/forum/showthread.php?p=33985#post33985

[Gabriel Guzman]

There use to be a brand of omega-3 fats that had very good reviews in terms of its taste; COROMEGA. I'm not sure if that is sold in drugstores or natural/health stores but I remember people raving about how good it tasted despite being omega-3 fats.

I'm always suspicious of 'spreads' simply because the only way to make naturally liquid-ocurring oils solid is through hydrogenation, so no matter how much they tell me how good it is, if it isn't naturally solid, then there is some hydrogenation in the process.

A few words about how much omega-3 fats/per day. Three mg (3 mg) is definitely not enough. In fact, I'm not sure there is an actual recommendation for omega-3 fats. Andrew Stoll, who studies the effect of fish oil in those with bi-polar syndrome has tried as much as 8 gr per day (using pharmaceutical grade fish oil) without any side effects and with rather encouraging results. Fish oil caps provide anything from 300-1000 mg per tablet, so 3 mg is definitely too low. Perhaps it was 300 mg? In any case, one has to make sure that it is XX mg of the actual omega-3 fats, not XX mg of the total product, which contains stabilizers, antioxidants and other compounds beside the o3-fats.

[maxlharris]

In case anyone were actually interested in the product under discussion,
Here are the links to the patents involved in SmartBalance:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...&RS=PN/5578334 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsrchnum.htm&Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&r=1&l=50&f=G&d=PALL&s1=5578334.PN.&OS=PN/5578334&RS=PN/5578334)
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...&RS=PN/5843497 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsrchnum.htm&Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&r=1&l=50&f=G&d=PALL&s1=5843497.PN.&OS=PN/5843497&RS=PN/5843497)
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...&RS=PN/6630192 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsrchnum.htm&Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&r=1&l=50&f=G&d=PALL&s1=6630192.PN.&OS=PN/6630192&RS=PN/6630192)

The things under patent are the blend of natural oils as processes for moving HDL and LDL numbers. It's a process patent. It is not a gene or a seed, but a process of lowering LDL and raising HDL with oils.

I would suggest that opposition to Smart Balance because it is a patented product is reactionary and poorly researched. The substances aren't patented, the mixture towards the HDL/LDL movements are. And the GMO fear, for this product, is possibly founded, but is not substantiative. We do not know if there is anything wrong with GMO soybeans or canola oil. And even if we did know that there is something wrong with them, we can't know that this product contains either. Now, if you suspect that GMO is inherently bad and you see it everywhere, you might reject the product out of hand on these grounds. But, a wiser approach might be to ask the manufacturer.

[maxlharris]

FWIW, it was 3.5 Grams of some combo of EPA and DHA. A study at NIH calculated that 40% of heart disease mortality and 95% of depression could be attributed to deficiencies in EPA and DHA. 3.5G was their recommendation.

Late for home. Later.

[PThackray]

Snapdragon,

According to Dr Mary Enig we need Omega 3 and Omega 6 in the following quantities (her calculations):

Omega 3…..1-1.5% of total energy (kcal)
Omega 6…...2-3% of total energy (kcal)

For a typical 2000 kcal diet that would require:

Omega 3…..2.2-3.3 grams (2200 – 3300 mg)
Omega 6…..4.4-6.7 grams (4400 – 6700 mg)

If I assume that you are asking about “Smart Balance Omega Cooking Oil” and you consumed 2 tablespoons per day you would get 2460 mg of Omega 3 and 7600 mg of Omega 6. That assumes that you eat 2 tablespoons not just cook in 2 tablespoons.

I think that today there are far better (and more natural) ways to achieve the “balance” and “positive effect on cholesterol” that Smart Balance products sought to achieve in 1996. However, you have a unique feeding problem. Perhaps you should consider the “Smart Balance Omega Plus Buttery Spread” and/or the “Smart Balance Omega Peanut Butter” for the picky eaters. Try to limit other sources of Omega 6 (not an easy thing to do) if you feed the Smart Balance products. Those folks who can take capsules or who don’t mind the taste should stick to one of the forms of fish oil (Carlson products are very good) for their Omega 3 requirements.

Phil

[snapdragon]

Phil, thank you for posting the grams versus milligrams I am not good at the conversion maths. Thank you also to those who took time to reply. Just to clarify I did try one of the "strawberry flavored" oils out for kids but was unsuccessful it still tasted nasty.