Innovation Canada | Omega-Rich or O-Mega Marketing?

The Canada Foundation for Innovation's Online Magazine

Showcasing Excellence In Canadian Research

Omega-Rich or O-Mega Marketing?

Dr. Andrea Buchholz
Associate Professor, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition
Director, Body Composition and Metabolism Laboratory
University of Guelph

While sitting in her Grade 9 family studies class, Dr. Andrea Buchholz decided she would study nutrition for the rest of her life. “It was like the sky opened up, and there were angels singing,” she says with a laugh nearly 25 years later. “I was inspired by the powerful idea that what you eat affects your health.”

Buchholz completed her bachelor’s degree in nutrition at Ryerson University, then her master’s at her future home, the University of Guelph, and a PhD at the University of Toronto. Along the way, she did a dietetic internship at Hamilton Health Sciences and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Madison-Wisconsin and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.

A former fitness instructor, Buchholz was a leading expert in Canada on nutrition in people with spinal cord injuries. But, as the field of body composition exploded in popularity, she felt her attention drawn to other topics, such as her current research on Omega-3.

Dr. Vera Mazurak
Assistant Professor, Nutrition and Metabolism
Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition
University of Alberta

For the past 15 years, Dr. Vera Mazurak has called Edmonton her home. The molecular biochemist studies fat and its many effects in the body. “Fat tissue releases things that can be good or bad,” she says. “Gaining weight changes those signals.”

In addition to her work on the IMPACt study, Mazurak works with cancer patients to discover what appropriate nutrition means for them. Her hope is to prevent malnutrition during chemotherapy.

Omega-3

There are three types of Omega-3 fatty acids: A-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The North American diet is typically rich in ALA found in flax and canola oil, whereas DHA and EPA found in fish make up much smaller portions.

The Institute of Medicine, based in Washington, DC, states: “ALA is not known to have any specific functions other than as a precursor to EPA and DHA. However, the conversion rate is very inefficient and will not produce the levels of EPA and DHA believed to offer relevant health benefits.” That means we actually need more DHA and EPA than ALA, and so the typical diet poses a problem. DHA and EPA have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, heart attacks, and diabetes. As well, these two fatty acids are integral to eye and brain functions, especially learning ability and mental development.

University of Guelph researchers investigate whether Omega-3 fortified foods help fight cardiovascular disease.

By Graeme Stemp-Morlock

You are what you eat. Or are you? This is what Andrea Buchholz and two colleagues hope to find out at the Body Composition and Metabolism Laboratory at the University of Guelph.

Buchholz, and co-investigators Lindsay Robinson of the University of Guelph, and Vera Mazurak of the University of Alberta have embarked on a study called IMPACt (Inflammation, Metabolic syndrome, Polyunsaturated fat in Adult Canadians) to find out what effect a small change in nutrition can have on our body’s makeup.

They plan to look at one of the biggest fad food products to hit the market in recent years—Omega-3 fortified foods. Eggs, yogurt, milk, and even bread products bear the Omega-3 label. But what, if anything, do these Omega-3 foods actually do for the human body? The IMPACt study will be one of the first to address this specific question.

By observing a group of overweight men at risk of cardiovascular disease as they follow a diet of Omega-3 fortified foods, the investigators will uncover whether the Omega-3 foods have the same protective effects as concentrated Omega-3.

To do this in-depth nutrition study, Buchholz required special equipment, which she got at her brand new lab at Guelph—completed just this past fall. The lab demonstrates just how far physiological testing has come. Sitting in one corner is an archaic, sarcophagus-like, steel dunk tank, which was once the only way to measure body composition. Research subjects would be submerged in the water-filled tank eight to 10 times while a scientist measured how much water was displaced. “It was very user unfriendly,” says Buchholz. “Especially, if like me, you’re claustrophobic.”

Fortunately, those days are long gone and the dunk tank is only an artifact. Today, body composition is measured, among other ways, using a space-age device called a BOD POD®. Wearing only a bathing suit and swim cap, a person sits in the egg-shaped chamber for approximately 2 minutes. The BOD POD calculates a person’s body composition by measuring and analyzing air displacement and flow. The lab’s other equipment can measure bone density and energy metabolism (the number of calories burned by the body at rest and after eating).

Above all, the lab lets researchers “measure everything in one space instead of sending people to different places for different tests. It’s the only place in Ontario and one of a few in Canada where you can do body composition and metabolism studies in one consolidated facility,” affirms Buchholz.