Hemp Foods & Oils Primer

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While the world is rediscovering hemp, people are discovering the nutritive powers of hemp foods and oils. High in complete protein and bountiful in essential fatty acids, hemp foods and oils are changing the way people eat.

Good Balance
Consuming a "well-balanced" diet requires a proper amount of the three different food categories:

Carbohydrates
Proteins
Fats
Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils offer a high quality of each of these food categories in a balance suitable for lifelong consumption.

A Primer on Fat
Probably the most misunderstood of the food categories is fat. Fat is an essential part of a well-rounded and healthy diet. The major components of fats are short chain molecules known as fatty acids. All fatty acids are classified according to their carbon-hydrogen makeup into three categories;

The human body is capable of recognizing and utilizing all of these types of fatty acids, but for optimum health, 60-80% of the intake should be polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Essential Fats
Specifically, there are 20 different types of fatty acids that the human body needs for optimum health.

It can manufacture all but two of these 20. These two must be obtained from the diet and are known as the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs); OMEGA-6 Linoleic Acid (LA) and OMEGA-3 Linoleic Acid (LNA).

The Essential Fatty Acid Ratio
For optimum health, these two EFA's need to be consumed in a certain ratio. Recommendations for the optimum health ratio of OMEGA-6 to OMEGA-3 fatty acids in the human diet have been formulated by the World Health Organization, Sweden and Japan. The average recommended ratio is 4:1.

Manitoba Harvest Hemp Seed Oil has a natural 3.75:1 Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio!

The Superfat
Manitoba Harvest Hemp Seed Oil also contains the super polyunsaturated fatty acid Gamma-Linoleic Acid (GLA).

GLA is an important step in the body's production of prostaglandin which helps maintain hormonal balance. The human body is normally able to metabolize GLA from the EFAs. A diet high in saturated and hydrogenated fats, a lifestyle filled with stress, and aging, will all block this metabolic process.

Thus consuming GLA is vital to bypassing these GLA metabolism blockages.

The Unhealthy Fat
The unhealthiest fat to eat is a polyunsaturate which has been heated past 360 F. It is at this temperature that a polyunsaturated fatty acid will change it's shape from a "cis" to a "trans" configuration.

This "unhealthy fat", when absorbed into the cell, disrupts normal cellular functions and hinders metabolic activities. Many deep-fried foods and hydrogenated oils contain this fat.

Essential Amino Acids
Proteins in the body serve many functions, acting as enzymes, antibodies and structural components of tissues and hormones. The building blocks of proteins are amino acids and the main function of dietary protein is to supply amino acids for the growth and maintenance of the body tissue. 10 of the 20 amino acids are considered essential for life because the human body cannot manufacture them. When a food contains all 10 essential amino acids, it is referred to as a complete protein.

Many plant proteins are labeled "incomplete" proteins resulting from the low amounts of one or more of the 10 essential amino acids. Truth be told, the "incomplete" label is somewhat misleading as all plant proteins do contain each of the essential amino acids. But in most cases (e.g. grains, legumes), levels of one or more amino acids are insufficient for human needs. However, hemp protein supplies enough of each of the essential amino acids to contribute to the human body's requirements. In fact, an important aspect of hemp protein is that it is a quality source of the amino acids arginine and histidine, both of which are important for growth during childhood, and of the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine, both of which are needed in the production of vital enzymes. Hemp protein also contains relatively high levels of the branched chain amino acids that are crucial in the repair and growth of lean body mass, making hemp protein a worthwhile investment.

Source: Hemp Foods & Oils Primer | Manitoba Harvest - Hemp Foods and Oils
 
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