Italians consume very few omega-3 foods! HEALTH AT RISK

In Italy, the daily intake consumed of omega 3 is on average 97 milligrams per person, an amount well below the 250 milligrams recommended by European guidelines. In our country, moreover, deaths from coronary dysfunction attributable to dietary EPA and DHA deficiency are about 31 per 100,000 people.

These data, for 2010, emerged from a study of fat and oil consumption around the world by researchers at Boston University and published in the British Medical Journal.

Proper nutrition is essential for good health

As the Global Burden of Diseases, a global report on disease and mortality, has shown, poor nutrition is one of the key risk factors for disease and disability around the world.

GBD: the most authoritative work on the causes of poor health

The 2013 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD 2013) is an update of the previously published version: the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study, the largest systematic study ever conducted, whose purpose was to describe, globally, the distribution and possible causes of a wide range of diseases, injuries, and their risk factors. By 2020, nearly 75 percent of all deaths and 60 percent of all health problems worldwide will be attributable to chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, 'obesity, and cancer, with the greatest impact in low- and middle-income countries. 

The factors that contribute to the onset of the above diseases, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and body mass index, are largely dependent on diet. Thus, diet is the main modifiable risk factor for poor health. In this regard, several epidemiological and clinical studies have documented the health benefits and risks from dietary fats and oils. In any case, data on the distribution of consumption in different countries are still scarce and unrepresentative, as is the understanding of global dietary patterns that take into account heterogeneity by country, age, sex, and time.

Italy: deaths from omega-3 deficiency have decreased but consumption is still low

Boston researchers studied the consumption of different types of fats worldwide in 2010. Sixteen age- and sex-segregated groups of adults were identified, and a survey was conducted on the intake of saturated, polyunsaturated, cholesterol, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids derived from both fish and vegetables. For omega-3s, data from only European citizens were collected and simplified by Adam Ismail, executive director of GOED, a nonprofit association that promotes the consumption of adequate levels of omega-3s. 

What emerges is some heterogeneity among nations. In countries such as France, Germany and England, the average daily intake of EPA and DHA far exceeds 250 mg, the dose recommended by European guidelines for maintaining normal heart function. In other nations, including those in the East, Spain and Italy, consumption is still far from that amount. Specifically, Italian citizens consume an average of 97 mg per day of omega-3, with a range of 66 to 138 mg. 

In Italy, deaths from coronary dysfunction attributable to EPA and DHA deficiency in the diet were found to be about 31 per 100,000 people, for a total of 18,800 deaths, a rather low figure when compared with that of nations such as Lithuania, Belarus and Hungary. Another important parameter taken into consideration is the trend of these deaths from 1990 to 2010; in the beautiful country the mortality rate went from about 36,800 per 100,000 people in 1990, to 31,500 in 2010, a reduction of about 5 deaths per 100,000 in 20 years.

Some data on global habits

Globally, published data show that 18.9 percent of the population takes in an optimal daily amount of omega-3 from fish, and that the intake of EPA and DHA, along with that from omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, has increased over the past 20 years, while that of saturated fat and cholesterol has remained stable. It also appears that between men and women there are not too many differences in EPA and DHA consumption, which was, however, higher in adults than in younger people. Among different nations, however, the population's preferred sources of omega-3 vary.

Knowing food consumption is important to promote health 

The data obtained show that in Italy the average daily consumption of omega-3s is less than half of that recommended by European guidelines, and that in 20 years the number of deaths from coronary heart disease attributable to EPA and DHA deficiency has decreased but not by much, especially compared with the milestones achieved by Northern European countries. Knowing food consumption in our own and other countries makes it possible to assess the impact nutrients have on health and to evaluate specific interventions and policies to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. In the specific case of fats, promoting foods that contain EPA and DHA at the expense of those high in saturated fats helps protect cardiovascular health 

Source: Renata Micha, Shahab Khatibzadeh, Peilin Shi, Saman Fahimi, Stephen Lim, Kathryn G Andrews, Rebecca E Engell, John Powles, Majid Ezzati, Dariush Mozaffarian, "Global, regional, and national consumption levels of dietary fats and oils in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis including 266 country-specific nutrition surveys." 

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