Trends in Agri-food Choices for Health since the 1960s: The Case of Fatty Acids
The FA composition of our diet affects human health: SFAs and n-6 PUFAs in excess are a risk factor for a number of chronic diseases, while n-3 PUFAs have a protective role. These FAs should be considered together, since an excessively high n-6: n-3 ratio is linked to a strong pro-inflammatory effect. We reconstructed the FA composition of the French diet from the 1960s to the present to identify the main reasons for decreases or in- creases due to agriculture, food processing or food choices. From the 1960s to the late 1990s, the diet increased in SFA and n-6 PUFA levels and likely decreased in n-3 PUFA level. Consequently, food behaviors did not follow dietary recommendations. For SFAs, this was due to the sharp increase in cheese and, to a smaller extent, palm oil consumption. For n-6 PUFAs, it was due to the sharp increase in oil consumption, especially linoleic sunflower oil. For n-3 PUFAs, this was due mainly to replacement of grass by maize and soybean meal to ruminants. This trend has reversed since the 2000s: the SFA level decreased due to decreased consumption of palm oil and genetic improvements in pigs and poultry, n-6 PUFA level decreased due to increased consumption of oleic instead of linoleic sunflower oil, and n-3 PUFA level increased due to in- creased consumption of rapeseed oil. These changes are consistent with the FA composition observed in breast milk. Despite these improvements, however, the average dietary composition remains far from the recommen- dations, especially for n-3 PUFAs. We show the potential for improvement by supplementing animal feed with flaxseed and increasing consumption of oleic sunflower and rapeseed oils, at the expense of that of other oils.
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| Format: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article biblioteca |
| Language: | spa |
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Fedepalma
2020-08-22T11:20:23Z
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| Subjects: | Dairy products, diet, feed, meat, oil, polyunsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, aceite, ácidos grasos poliinsaturados, ácidos grasos saturados, alimentación, carne, dieta, productos lácteos, |
| Online Access: | https://publicaciones.fedepalma.org/index.php/palmas/article/view/13169 http://repositorio.fedepalma.org/handle/123456789/141025 |
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