One-Man Tipping Point: How One Scientist is Helping His Community “Nix the Omega-6” and Improve Health
Bottom-Line: One scientist is single-handily changing the way Morgan County, West Virginia eats. His mission is to demonstrate that chronic diseases and their ensuing health costs can be significantly reduced, by lowering dietary omega-6 fats and eating enough omega-3 fats.
Background: Bill Lands, PhD, is a one-man tipping point,with a mission and a motto: “Nix the Six and Eat the Three." A concise slogan, from a scientist who can’t help but speak in polysyllabic terms when describing how heart disease and other chronic diseases could be prevented by balancing the dietary fats. And so this pioneer scientist, who recently turned 80 years old, rallied his small community and used the Count County fair as the vehicle to get his message across.
"Dr William E.M. Lands (born July 22, 1930) is an American nutritional biochemist who is the world's foremost authority on essential fatty acids. Lands graduated from University of Michigan in 1951 and served on the faculty there from 1955 to 1980. He then moved to University of Illinois (1980-1990) and subsequently the National Institutes of Health (1990-2002), where he served as the Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Lands is credited for discovering the beneficial effects of balancing the effects of excess omega-6 fatty acids with dietary omega-3 fatty acids. The effect of essential fatty acids on formation of hormones is documented in his book, "Fish, Omega-3 and Human Health." University of Michigan's Department of Biological Chemistry endowed a Lectureship in honor of William E.M. Lands."
