Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below
TUNA HIGH IN EFA's?
- Thread starter PANTS
- Start date
terrible source of EFA's from the can. The canned variety is cooked to the point where there is no beneficial EFA's, its bullshit. Fresh tuna MAY be different but I highly doubt it, b/c most fish as far as I know are raised on farms where they are fed the wrong foods just like cattle and most animals which destroys their beneficial EFA ratios. If you want EFA's get your omega-3s from flaxseed oil and fish oils from wild salmon.
THE BOUNCER
New member
i dought he has studies on this considering he is dead wrong!Anthrax said:
chillin408
New member
On another board, I recall someone stating that canned tuna is cooked in the absence of oxygen. If this is accurate, then I guess that protects the EFAs.
sorry bouncer, might want to do some more reading b4 you comment on something u dont know about. Just saying i'm dead wrong is foolish on your part.
If you look up the EPA and DHA content of canned tuna from nutritional databases, you find large variation. Some of the
canned tuna has hardly any omega-3 fatty acids. There are two reasons for this variation. First, different tuna species have different omega-3 content and even within the same species there could be seasonal variation. Second, and most important reason for variation is the differences in canning processes.
Major canners precook tuna before canning it by baking it on racks. Essential oils drip away. When the tuna is completely cooked, the white meat is removed and placed into cans. Without the oils that have dripped away, the meat is dry, so broth, water, or vegetable oils are added. Then the tuna is cooked again in
order to seal the can. This is the most common tuna canning method and it leads to very low omega-3 content. On the other hand some canners hand-trim tuna fillets and then place it in the can where it then cooks in its own natural juices reatining the omega-3 content. Unfortunately there is usually no
information in the can how it has been processed or about its omega-3 content.
http://www.omega-3info.com/o3_4.htm#concentration
Is there a high, or even not so high, concentration of omega-3 in regular tuna? I’ve heard albacore tuna has a lot. I eat tuna sandwiches every day, but I’m not sure that they’re albacore tuna. Does it make a difference?
Fresh and frozen tuna are excellent sources of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturates, supplying around 5% total oil of which 20% is omega-3. However, during the canning process, most of the oil and therefore most of the omega-3 is lost. This is mainly because tuna is cooked before it is canned, and during the cooking process much of the oil is separated and lost. The meat that goes in the tin thus has a low oil content (usually less than 1g per 100g) and a low omega-3 content (usually less than 0.4g per 100g). It matters little whether the tuna is albacore or yellowfin because once it is canned there is little omega-3 left. Some tuna packers do can raw tuna so that the omega-3 content is higher, but it is usually difficult to distinguish such products from the others in the marketplace. Enquire of the producer to be certain. These comments only apply to tuna. Other canned fish are just as good as the raw fish as sources of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturates.
Thanx for the feedback but i'll take information from a credible site that deals with information on omega-3s over a guy called bouncer on a diet message board.
If you look up the EPA and DHA content of canned tuna from nutritional databases, you find large variation. Some of the
canned tuna has hardly any omega-3 fatty acids. There are two reasons for this variation. First, different tuna species have different omega-3 content and even within the same species there could be seasonal variation. Second, and most important reason for variation is the differences in canning processes.
Major canners precook tuna before canning it by baking it on racks. Essential oils drip away. When the tuna is completely cooked, the white meat is removed and placed into cans. Without the oils that have dripped away, the meat is dry, so broth, water, or vegetable oils are added. Then the tuna is cooked again in
order to seal the can. This is the most common tuna canning method and it leads to very low omega-3 content. On the other hand some canners hand-trim tuna fillets and then place it in the can where it then cooks in its own natural juices reatining the omega-3 content. Unfortunately there is usually no
information in the can how it has been processed or about its omega-3 content.
http://www.omega-3info.com/o3_4.htm#concentration
Is there a high, or even not so high, concentration of omega-3 in regular tuna? I’ve heard albacore tuna has a lot. I eat tuna sandwiches every day, but I’m not sure that they’re albacore tuna. Does it make a difference?
Fresh and frozen tuna are excellent sources of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturates, supplying around 5% total oil of which 20% is omega-3. However, during the canning process, most of the oil and therefore most of the omega-3 is lost. This is mainly because tuna is cooked before it is canned, and during the cooking process much of the oil is separated and lost. The meat that goes in the tin thus has a low oil content (usually less than 1g per 100g) and a low omega-3 content (usually less than 0.4g per 100g). It matters little whether the tuna is albacore or yellowfin because once it is canned there is little omega-3 left. Some tuna packers do can raw tuna so that the omega-3 content is higher, but it is usually difficult to distinguish such products from the others in the marketplace. Enquire of the producer to be certain. These comments only apply to tuna. Other canned fish are just as good as the raw fish as sources of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturates.
Thanx for the feedback but i'll take information from a credible site that deals with information on omega-3s over a guy called bouncer on a diet message board.
Lumberg
New member
Raw, wild tuna, as well as most deep/cod water fish, are high in EFAs. I guess the deeper they go, the colder the water, and the colder the water, either due to latitude or depth, the more fatty insulation a fish needs.
Anyways.....don't count on fish as your source of EFAs unless you are rich enough to eat sushi or sashimi every night. Heat AND oxygen destroy EFAs. SO high heat, even in the absence of 02, will kill most of the EFAs.
Bottom line: flax oil is a relatively cheap, excellent source of EFAs.
On a personal note, I just started supplementing a couple weeks ago and noticed a big difference.
I have not tried fish oil caps because they are expensive and you have to be really careful about the brand--flax seed oil I know works. Be sure to buy the freshest stuff you can find from a store that refrigerates.
JC
Anyways.....don't count on fish as your source of EFAs unless you are rich enough to eat sushi or sashimi every night. Heat AND oxygen destroy EFAs. SO high heat, even in the absence of 02, will kill most of the EFAs.
Bottom line: flax oil is a relatively cheap, excellent source of EFAs.
On a personal note, I just started supplementing a couple weeks ago and noticed a big difference.
I have not tried fish oil caps because they are expensive and you have to be really careful about the brand--flax seed oil I know works. Be sure to buy the freshest stuff you can find from a store that refrigerates.
JC
swimmar
New member
PANTS said:
Answer: They're not.
Another related question: I've read in Udo's "Fats That Kill, Fats That Heal" book that since EFAs are generally used for 'structural' purposes and are not generally used for energy, that it is not necessary to count them as "calories". Is this true? I take about 3 tbsp's of flax a day and was counting them... should I not be?
Lumberg
New member
Just like beef, tuna has different cuts that are higher in fat. There is also high variation between fish in the amount of fat. In japan very fatty tuna is called "toro" and the fattiest sells for $100+/lb WHOLESALE. Regular, unfatty tuna is called "maguro" and is like chicken.
At those prices something tells me most fatty tuna ends up in japan.
JC
At those prices something tells me most fatty tuna ends up in japan.
JC
Lumberg
New member
Taken in aggregate, the tuna fish has lots of fats in it. Tuna is heated to a very high level when canned. EFAs hate heat. There is an in-depth discussion of this elsewhere on the site about how some tuna is heated prior to canning and most of the fat drips off. Other methods include heating after canning which preserves some EFAs. I can't remember where I saw it use the search function.
JC
JC
Similar threads
