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For centuries mankind consumed a 1:1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. However, with the introduction of modern food manufacturing practices and a faster paced lifestyle, the Western diet came to include far more omega-6 fatty acids than ever before. In 1970, two Danish physicians, Hans Olaf Bang and Jørn Dyerberg, recognized this shift while researching the native Greenland population, the Inuit.
Observations indicated that the Inuit population consumed large amounts of fat but had an almost complete absence of heart disease. However, the majority of the fat in the Inuit diet was from fish and whale blubber, fats that are rich in polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids and relatively low in omega-6. Through blood lipid analysis, Bang and Dyerberg concluded that it was the large amounts of polyunsaturated marine fats rich in omega-3 that contributed to lower cholesterol and better cardiovascular health.
This discovery paved the way for decades of research. Now, scientists and the medical community have recognized the positive health benefits omega-3 fatty acids provide in each stage of life.
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