Ep. 15: A.J. Hulbert on the Omega Balance—with Dr. Brian Kerley

Tucker Goodrich: Debugging Life

Introduction

We are honorored to be joined by Prof. A. J. Hulbert, noted zoologist and author of Omega Balance: Nutritional Power for a Happier, Healthier Life.

“In Omega Balance, noted scientist Anthony J. Hulbert explains how the balance between [Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids] in the human food chain has changed over the last half-century and the very serious negative health impacts this imbalance has created.

An imbalance of these omega fats contributes to increased rates of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, allergies, asthma, as well as cancer and a variety of other inflammatory diseases. Omega balance is also important for normal brain function, and an imbalance in these fatty acids is associated with depression, mood disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Hulbert provides extensive information on the omega balance of different foods and discusses fascinating details about human evolution, dietary changes throughout history, the effect of diet on human development and physiological processes, and more. He investigates the paleo diet of our ancestors and describes the dramatic changes that have accompanied the increased ultra-processing of modern foods. Omega Balance is an essential guide to understanding a significant problem in our modern food chain and will make us rethink the food we eat.

https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12823/omega-balance

Amazon link to benefit this podcast: https://amzn.to/49JHXFo

This book won a “Best Book” award from the American Book Fest in the category “Health: Diet and Exercise”.

https://www.americanbookfest.com/2023bbafullresults.html

Guest info

I was introduced to Prof. Hulbert by Prof. Tom Brenna, our guest in Ep. 5: Prof. Tom Brenna, Omega-3 and Omega-6 in Human Health.

Biography:

“Anthony John Hulbert (UNSW, AUS), PhD, DSc, is an internationally renowned researcher on metabolism, longevity, and nutrition. He is emeritus professor in Science, Medicine, and Health at the University of Wollongong, Australia.”

https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12823/omega-balance#book__authors

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Co-host

Co-host Dr. Brian Kerley

https://www.seedoilrebellion.com/

https://twitter.com/SeedOilDsrspctr

Looking to fix your diet by getting rid of seed oils?

Check out the Seedy app!

https://www.seedyapp.com/

Tucker Goodrich

Substack: https://tuckergoodrich.substack.com/

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Podcast: https://sites.libsyn.com/408758

Blog (deprecated, but still a lot there!): http://yelling-stop.blogspot.com/

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Show Notes

In order of discussion.

Borchman, D., Stimmelmayr, R., & George, J. C. (2017). Whales, Lifespan, Phospholipids, and Cataracts. Journal of Lipid Research, 58(12), 2289–2298. https://doi.org/10.1194/jlr.M079368

Hulbert, A. J., & Else, P. L. (1999). Membranes as Possible Pacemakers of Metabolism. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 199(3), 257–274. https://doi.org/10.1006/jtbi.1999.0955

Abbott, S. K., Else, P. L., Atkins, T. A., & Hulbert, A. J. (2012). Fatty Acid Composition of Membrane Bilayers: Importance of Diet Polyunsaturated Fat Balance. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes, 1818(5), 1309–1317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2012.01.011

McCollum, E. V. (1919). The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition. Macmillan Company. https://ia801302.us.archive.org/28/items/cu31924104225937/cu31924104225937.pdf

Speakman, J. R., De Jong, J. M. A., Sinha, S., Westerterp, K. R., Yamada, Y., Sagayama, H., Ainslie, P. N., Anderson, L. J., Arab, L., Bedu-Addo, K., Blanc, S., Bonomi, A. G., Bovet, P., Brage, S., Buchowski, M. S., Butte, N. F., Camps, S. G. J. A., Cooper, J. A., Cooper, R., … Wong, W. W. (2023). Total Daily Energy Expenditure Has Declined Over the Past Three Decades Due to Declining Basal Expenditure, Not Reduced Activity Expenditure. Nature Metabolism, 5(4), 579–588. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00782-2

Allport, S. (2010, November). One Person’s Response to a High Omega-6 Diet [Magazine]. American Oil Chemists’ Society. https://www.aocs.org/stay-informed/inform-magazine/featured-articles/one-persons-response-to-a-high-omega-6-diet-november-2010?SSO=True

If you have any questions about sources for things discussed please ask in the comments.