What Are The Benefits Of Omega 3 Fatty Acids And Their Relation To Cultures?

For a dinner high in omega-3 fatty acids, visit a Greek restaurant and order a tuna entree and baklava filled with walnuts for dessert. Greece's ready access to the sea and its cultural and dietary traditions make it part of the Mediterranean region that offers a model for healthy eating worldwide. But Greece is not the only country whose geography and traditions provide people with healthy diets high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Benefits of Omega-3

Omega-3 fats keep your heartbeats regular, reduce inflammation throughout your body, keep blood clots from forming and lower your cholesterol by reducing the overall amount of fat particles in your bloodstream. The jury is still out on whether omega-3 fats have other benefits, but they may reduce your risk of a wide variety of other disorders. The possible benefits include reductions in high blood pressure, arthritis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, strokes, osteoporosis, kidney problems, endometrial cancer, macular degeneration and psoriasis.

Mediterranean Cultures

People in the Mediterranean regions of Greece, Italy and surrounding countries have long eaten a diet rich in fish -- one of the foods highest in omega-3. As early as 1614, Giacomo Castelvetro, an Italian living in England, wrote a book extolling the virtues of the Italian diet to encourage the English people to replace some of the meat and desserts in their diet with fresh salads dressed with olive oil, according to an article in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in 1997. A 2009 study published in "Public Health and Nutrition" confirmed that the Mediterranean diet -- which focuses more on fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts, and olive oil and less on red meats, refined bread and whole-fat dairy products -- reduces obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure and chronic inflammation.

Asian Cultures

Healthy omega-3 oils, fish and sea plants are big parts of Asian diets. For example, people living in Northern India have a much lower level of heart disease than people in other parts of India because they use mustard oil for cooking, which contains high amounts of omega-3 fats. Likewise, the traditional Japanese diet is rich in omega-3 fats, such as those in fish, as well as kelp-based foods, such as kombu, wakame and nori. A 2009 study printed in "Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry," found that tororokombu, thinly shaved kelp, had anti-obesity effects on mice, which may explain lack of obesity in the Japanese.

Latin America

Contemporary Latin Americans suffer from high rates of diabetes and obesity because they have abandoned a traditional Latin American diet that's high in omega-3. Some traditional Latin American foods include salmon, mackerel, sardines, acai berries and pumpkin seeds, or pepitas.