Is Almond Milk Inflammatory

(Tracy) #1

I love almond and cashew milk and drink a lot of it. Now I’m hearing that almonds are high in omega 6 and should be consumed in small amounts. Then I read that as long as you eat plenty of omega 3 it balances out. I don’t know if I can give up my almond milk.

#2

If it’s not giving you an issue, who cares? People look WAYYYYYYYY too deep into this crap and literally look for things to have an issue with. I track all my macros and know everything that goes into me, see the percentage and graphs etc. But I never let it make me crazy. If you like it, and it’s not causes any issues. then don’t worry about it!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

You need to balance your intake of ω-3 fatty acids and ω-6 fatty acids, because they compete for the same cell receptors, and you will get too much of whichever one is prominent in your diet, and not enough of the one that is less available.

That said, however, we only need small amounts of these fatty acids. Yes, they are essential to the human diet, but they are not needed in great quantity. Furthermore, ω-6 fatty acids in quantity cause systemic inflammation, whether balanced with ω-3 fatty acids or not. So even if you are getting the correct balance between the two types, you can still be harming yourself if you get too much.

If you avoid the seed oils, and eat real food, you should be fine.

(Tracy) #4

I agree you. I am prone to driving myself insane. Sometimes I wonder if I traded physical health for my mental health. I’m working on improving both. I’m always wondering if I’m eating too much canned salmon, too many almonds, is my olive oil counterfeit, will coconut oil cause my LDL to go too high, does LDL even matter? I’ve come to the conclusion that what I’m doing, which is eliminating carbs and eating foods with very few ingredients that I prepare myself, has improved every aspect of my life. I don’t know how I can go beyond that.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

Nor should you need to. The more fresh food you eat, the healthier you should become.

While the data to support this notion are still largely lacking, there are indications that a well-formulated ketogenic diet supports mental health as well as physical health. Dr. Georgia Ede, a psychiatrist in a university health system, reports that her student patients who have eating disorders and other mental health problems tend to improve noticeably on a ketogenic diet. Dr. Chris Palmer in Boston is exploring a ketogenic diet as a possible treatment for mental illness. He has had spectacular success with one schizophrenic patient in particular.

The beneficial effect of a ketogenic diet on autistic patients is well known, and of course it has been known for decades that a ketogenic diet can control epileptic seizures that are not amenable to treatment by drugs. Several people involved with the running of these forums have successfully dealt with depression and other similar mental problems with a ketogenic diet, sometimes by going full carnivore.

(Tracy) #6

Both of my kids have Autism, one is severe and one is in the middle of the spectrum. I hope one day I can change their diet. The problem with Autism is food texture and sensory issues. They love crunchy, dry foods which means lots of carbs. My oldest ate mashed cauliflower and rotisserie chicken yesterday for the first time so I know there’s hope.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #7

The film, The Magic Pill, follows two autistic children (among other people) on keto, one of whom adapts to the new diet without fuss, the other of whom has a terrible time adapting, but who is much happier once she does. The father of this girl put his entire family on a ketogenic diet (as part of the documentary), and he remarks at one point how his mother’s mental condition also improved noticeably.

(Bob M) #8

How much research have you done on omega 6s?

While I think some O6 intake is OK or can’t be avoided (can’t eat nothing but beef, for most of us), I really try to avoid almonds. I try to have them very infrequently. As in, I haven’t had any in at least months if not years.

(Tracy) #9

I haven’t done any research. This was news to me this morning when I saw Dr. Berg talk about eating almonds in moderation due to Omega 6. I think almond milk is mostly water. It only has 30 calories per cup, so it couldn’t contain much of anything. I equally like cashew milk and wouldn’t mind switching if cashews are better.

#10

Enough to know they can be inflammatory in large amounts if not balanced out overall. All I really need to know. I don’t cause a problem where there isn’t one. My inflammation markers are always good, and my diet typically has them close enough that I don’t worry about it. If I have a day that they’re higher… oh well. I’m not going to start downing O3’s just to make a graph move. As a whole my balance is good, my 2 biggest sources of them are Almond milk and Ground Beef, I eat/drink a ton of both, and even with that I have no issues keeping them in balance. Now if I started having an issue and tracked it back to that, that would be different. I think for most people eating mostly good foods and avoiding seed oils it’s really not an issue most of the time.

#11

I just put 36oz (somewhere around what I drink daily with protein shakes) of both Almond and Cashew milk into Cronometer to see what they each contributed Omega wise. Almond Milk was at 15% RDA at 2.6g, Cashew was 8% at 1.5g. If that’s not ignoreable I don’t know what is. Almost any Omega 3’s coming in would counteract that. Then I through my Omega supplement in there to see where it was and it was 52% Omega 3 : 23% Omega 6 for the day, that’s with nothing else in the food log at all. Seems like a non-issue to me!

(Central Florida Bob ) #12

People tend to dismiss this or not think about it, but the omega 6 fatty acid, linoleic acid, is an essential fatty acid. By definition, essential means we can’t produce it ourselves and must consume it in our diet to get what we need. They’re needed as the starting point to produce other PUFAs that our body can make: gamma-linolenic acid (GLA ), dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA) and arachidonic acid (AA).

The usual argument for disregarding this is that we get so much omega 6 PUFAs in our diet how could we not get enough, but who said people on a keto diet, much less people on this forum, eat a typical diet? The European Scientific Committee on food says the daily intake of linoleic acid should be 2% of daily calorie intake. This site waves their hands about typical intake for men and women and arrive at 5g/day for women and 6.4g/day for men.

So, yeah, if you eat grocery store mayonnaise or salad dressings, you probably don’t need to think about it. If you’re a devoted keto follower and really watching your linoleic acid, don’t omit it.

#13

Intact omega 6’s don’t cause inflammation but living in a polluted city will lead to the air pollution oxidizing the arachidonic acid in the cell member which will lead to the inflammatory cascade for the purpose of telling it’s host(us) that we are being poisoned. Arachidonic acid is like a trip wire. It’s to teach us a lesson. If the inflammatory cascade didn’t exist… We could place our hand on a hot burner and not feel pain.

Lipid peroxides in oils do cause inflammation.

I haven’t tested plant milks but I can speak from experience of consuming high amounts of non rancid non molded walnuts. The fats always end up in my muscle instead of adipose because walnuts have amino acids which shuttle the fatty acids inside the muscle.

Autistic children have impaired detoxification mechanisms and excessive accumulation of heavy metals. A medical grade non toxic sauna like SaunaRay is effective at expelling heavy metals. So is lichen based Vitamin D3 with organic raw carrot juice… the carotenes ameliorate the heavy metals and the vitamin D3 increases heavy metal binding metallothionein proteins.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #14

Yes, ω-3 fatty acids and ω-6 fatty acids are essential to the human diet. They are not, however, needed in any great quantity. It is known that an excess of ω-6 causes inflammation, whether balanced with ω-3 or not. The reason for balancing our intake is that we require them in roughly equal proportions, and they compete for the same cell receptors, so an excess of one prevents us getting enough of the other. Other polyunsaturated fatty acids can also cause inflammation, as well, and I have seen recommendations that for that reason PUFA intake should be no more than 1% of fats. The type of PUFA known as trans-fat is known to be carcinogenic and should be avoided for that reason alone.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #15

This lecture is not as rigourous as it could be, perhaps, but it might serve as a useful overview:

#16

Does almond milk = seed oils? (I don’t know but it is good to distinguish between the two)

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #17

No, almond milk is not a seed oil. The method of production is very different.

There used to be a very funny Web site that described how the almonds are herded and how they are milked.

#18

I meant… Do you believe almond milk would have the same detrimental biological effects on our biology as seed oils? In the sense that linoleic acid is shuttled in adipose tissue instead of intramuscular fat where it can be burned directly as fuel by the muscle and that it contains inflammatory lipid peroxides.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #19

No. To clarify, the thing I was reacting to was the issue of the ω-6 content, on the logic that if you get too much ω-6, you still get inflammation, regardless of the source.

I happen to believe there are plenty of other reasons to abhor seed oils, in addition to their ω-6 content. Almond milk is not in the same category of terribleness. Of course, from a keto point of view, it has a lot more carbohydrate than heavy cream, which I prefer, so . . . .

#20

I would like to see evidence for this because it’s the same extreme story we see in regards to blaming atherosclerosis on saturated fat and cholesterol. We blame everything else but not ourselves and our actions.

The science says broken down Omega fatty acids… Known as lipid peroxides cause inflammation. Not intact lipids.

I’ve conducted feeding experiments on wild ketogenic squirrels by feeding them in shell black sunflower seeds and I’ve never seen squirrels move so fast around trees. Note there’s double the amount of omega 6’s in sunflower seeds than there’s in almonds.

These squirrels had an aversion to carbohydrates. They wouldn’t eat fruit and when given a choice between wheat and sunflower seeds… They would choose sunflower seeds everytime.