efa amounts and ratios, was New/introduction

[Guest guest]

>>>>> True, but at the same time, chickens, not being ruminants, are

> going to act

> as concentrators of those unsaturated oils found in grains.

> Grain-fed beef is bad, but I'd take it over grain-fed chicken (and

> grain-fed pork) any day

> of the week.

>>>>True, but you're much more concerned about omega 6 than I am. If the

ratio gets knocked down from 1/2 omega3/omega6 to 1/4 or so, I'm not

terribly concerned. It's still SOO much better than what most people

are getting that I just can't get myself to be that worried about

it. There's too many other things that will make a greater

difference in my opinion.

*****scott, i have to agree with paul on this one. last year i did a little

research on chicken fat because i felt (and still feel) that a number of

problems barfers are having with their dogs are a result of excessive

concentrations of LA from all the chicken some of them feed. especially

large amounts of chicken bones where fat is concentrated. what i found was

that:

1. factory farmed chickens are between 20-25% fat, or thereabouts (depending

on the

source of information).

2. Of that 20-25%, about 19-25% is linoleic acid (omega 6), again, depending

on the source.

3. The n-6/n-3 ratio is around 20:1.

That's a max total of 1/16th of the critter being linoleic acid! That's a

lot, imo. you could remove the skin, but then you're also not getting the

fat-soluble vits that go with eating fat. AFAIK, chicken as a food source in

north america is a relatively new phenomenon. they were originally brought

to england from southeast asia to be used in cockfights, i believe, some 200

years ago or something like that. i think they were brought to the u.s. from

there, although am not certain. either way, their lipid profile doesn't

remotely resemble ones from large ungulates fed their natural diet, which i

think is a more 'natural' food source for humans (as well as dogs). nor does

their lipid profile even resemble, factory-farmed ruminants, because these

ruminants do not concentrate LA like commercially fed chickens do.

Too much total LA + a grossly imbalanced n-6/n-3 ratio = eat in moderation,

imo.

Suze Fisher

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