Overview

The evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are essential for human development and most helpful to achieve good health throughout life is clearly documented by Dr. Joyce Nettleton in her new book Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Health. Omega- 3 fatty acids are produced by the plants of the land and sea. The tissues of the body require the omega-3 fatty acids for their proper functioning just as they also need the omega-6 essential fatty acids. It is probable in man's evolutionary development that there has always been the proper balance between these two groups of essential fatty acids, but in the modern era with the provision of inexpensive vegetable oils it is possible that the pendulum for increased dietary omega-6 fatty acids in the form of linoleic acid has swung too far and the intake ofomega-3 fatty acids has actualIy declined. In particular, the 22 carbon omega- 3 fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid, which has six double bonds, is important in the membranes of brain cells, heart muscle cells, the rods and cones of the retina and spermatozoa. Docosahexaenoic acid is found only in foods such as fish and other sea life, having been synthesized by the phytoplankton of the waters. An outright deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids has led to a number of distur- bances in animals and human infants such as impaired vision, abnormalities of the electroretinogram, of the eye and various behavioral aberrations.