Is There Danger of a Deficiency of Essential oils on the Low Fat Diet?
Calculations show that a low fat diet with 10% of the calories from fat will supply adequate essential oils. The average adult should get from 1%-3% of their calories from the polyunsaturated fats linoleic or r-linolenic acids (omega-6) and a-linolenic acid (omega-3) in a ratio of two omega-6 to one omega-3. 25, 26 A person who eats 1200 calories daily would absorb about 1000 calories. Ten percent of 1000 calories would be 11 grams of fat. Over half of the oil in the fruit, vegetables, and grains occur as omega-6 or omega-3 oils in a ratio slightly favoring the omega-6 fats. 27 Thus, there would be at least 5.5 grams of essential oils on the low fat, total vegetarian diet. This is a sizeable margin over the 2-4 grams recommended. Most animal products, including milk, have less than 15% of their calories as essential oils. Neither our group nor the Pritikin Clinic nor the Ornish group has observed any evidence of a deficiency of essential fats. They may not take vitamin B-12, which need
