STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Around the advent of the American Civil War, in the 1870s or so, is when they developed the technology to extract oils from seeds. Before then, the average LA intake was less than 5 grams a day, and likely closer to 2 or 3 grams
- Eggs and bacon are two sources that, today, have very high LA levels, thanks to being fed an unnatural and PUFA-rich diet
- The mainstream is so convinced that saturated fat is bad and PUFAs are good that they’re now starting to use technology to turn the saturated fats in ruminant animals into PUFAs
- Ashley Armstrong’s farm, Angel Acres Egg Co., produces eggs that are low in linoleic acid (LA), as nature intended. On average, her eggs contain 17 to 20 milligrams of LA, which is about one-quarter of the LA found in conventional eggs
- Armstrong has also started a new private member food system called Nourish Cooperative that offers milk, cheese, low-PUFA pork, low-PUFA chicken and grass fed beef. Angel Acres Egg Co. and Nourish Cooperative both ship farm-fresh food right to your door
The video above features an interview with return guest Ashley Armstrong, a certified personal trainer with a Ph.D., MS and BS in engineering, and cofounder of Angel Acres Egg Co., which specializes in low-PUFA (polyunsaturated fat) eggs. On average, her eggs contain 17 to 20 milligrams of linoleic acid (LA), which is about one-quarter of the LA found in conventional eggs.
She’s also started a new private member food system that offers milk, cheese, low-PUFA pork and low-PUFA chicken, called Nourish Cooperative. Both ship farm-fresh food right to your door.
“One of my favorite topics is essentially just returning back to how food used to be made,” Armstrong says. “One-hundred fifty years ago, the dietary linoleic acid (LA) was naturally low, so people would just go to the grocery store and their food options didn’t have a bunch of linoleic acid.
It was, in my opinion, probably easier to source food back then. And now we’re inundated with not just PUFAs from vegetable oils, but also from animal products as well, because some animals are just vehicles for vegetable oils. The statement that ‘You are what you eat’ has never been more true because of how much the agriculture industry has changed over the last 100 years.”
Modern Diet Is Loaded With Harmful LA
Around the advent of the American Civil War, in the 1870s or so, is when they developed the technology to extract oils from seeds. Before then, the average LA intake was less than 5 grams a day, and likely closer to 2 or 3 grams.
Today, most people exceed that by the time they’re done with breakfast. As noted by Armstrong, eggs and bacon are two sources that, today, have very high LA levels, thanks to being fed an unnatural and PUFA-rich diet.
Eggs and bacon are typically perceived as healthy food options, especially among carnivores, but what most are missing is that LA is a metabolic poison that impairs, if not destroys, mitochondrial function and, as such, conventional eggs and bacon is a recipe for ill health. The good news is there are ways to raise eggs and pork that aren’t loaded with LA, which is what Armstrong specializes in.
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Why Healthy Eggs Are So Important
Chicken eggs are an enormously important part of our diet because they contain nutrients that are really difficult to get from other foods, choline in particular. Choline, found in ample amounts in organic, pastured egg yolks, was first discovered in 1862.1
It was officially recognized as an essential nutrient for human health by the Institute of Medicine in 1998.2 Since then, we’ve learned that choline has a long list of health benefits. For example, it’s required for:
| Healthy fetal development3 |
| Optimal brain function, memory and cognition |
| Nervous system health — Choline is necessary for making acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in healthy muscle, heart and memory performance |
| Cell structure — Choline is needed for the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine, better known as lecithin, which is required for the composition of cell membranes |
| Mitochondrial function4 |
| Metabolism (energy production) |
| DNA synthesis |
| Methylation reactions5 |
| Cardiovascular health |
| Liver health, as choline is needed to carry cholesterol from your liver; a choline deficiency could result in excess fat and cholesterol buildup6 |
Research7 published in 2020 also concluded that choline has anti-inflammatory activity and can be particularly useful in those with insulin resistance and/or metabolic syndrome. And, while a choline supplement was good in this regard, eggs were far better.
[…]
Mad Science — Transforming the Fatty Acid Profiles of Animals
As explained by Armstrong, livestock are classified into two types — ruminant animals, which includes cows, lamb, goats and deer, and monogastric animals such as chickens and swine (and humans).
Ruminant animals have a complex digestive system consisting of, typically, four stomachs. Their digestion involves a variety of microbes that help break down the food they eat. These digestive microbes also convert dietary PUFAs into saturated fats through a process called biohydrogenation. As a result, ruminant animal products tend to be lower in PUFA, even if they’re fed a high-PUFA diet.
Monogastric animals have just one stomach, and whatever fats they eat is translated into their tissues. This is why conventionally raised chicken meat and pork are so high in PUFAs.
Unfortunately, the mainstream is so convinced that saturated fat is bad and PUFAs are good that they’re creating technologies to manipulate the fatty acid composition in ruminant animals. In other words, they’re using technology to turn the saturated fats in ruminant animals into PUFAs, which is nothing short of a disaster.
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While monogastric feed diets are already very high in PUFAs, conventional farmers are also using dried distillers grains (DDGs), made from the waste products of the ethanol industry, which is driving the PUFA content in monogastric livestock even higher.
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This wouldn’t be quite as bad if it was given to ruminant animals, as they have the capacity to convert the PUFAs into saturated fat. Alas, they’re giving it to monogastric animals like chickens and pigs, turning those foods into something that can only harm your health in the long run. Unfortunately, there are no regulations around the use of DDGs, so we don’t know how much is being used, or who’s using it.
Barriers to Healthier Foods
Equally unfortunate is that farmers like Armstrong, who understands nutrition and wants to raise animals right, are held back in more ways than one. She can’t take advantage of government subsidized feed, for example. She also doesn’t have the benefit of scale.
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Transform Your Health — One Step at a Time
Ashley and her sister Sarah have put together a truly groundbreaking step-by-step course called “Rooted in Resilience.” They have compiled what clearly is the best application of Dr. Ray Peat’s work on Bioenergetic Medicine that I have ever seen.
It is so good that I am using the core of their program to teach the many Health Coaches that I am in the process of training for the new Mercola Health Clinics I am opening this fall. It took these women working nearly full-time on this project for a year to create it.
This has to be one of the absolute best values for health education I have ever seen. If you want to understand why you struggle with health problems and then have a clear program on how to reverse those challenges, then this is the course for you.
It is precisely the type of program I wish I would have had access to when I got out of medical school. I fumbled around for decades before I reached the conclusion they discuss in the course and share with you so you can restore your cellular energy production and recover your health.
