Can eating foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids help your allergies? They won’t stop your seasonal allergy symptoms but they may help lessen inflammation, strengthen your immune system and improve your overall health, according to Apostolos Pappas, a research biochemist and food scientist.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been studied for their anti-inflammatory properties and are found in foods such as salmon and other oily fish, nuts and seeds, and flaxseed oil. Pappas writes about the numerous health benefits of Omega-3s and lays out an eating plan for the Mediterranean diet in his book, The Saint-Tropez Diet.

“We promote the intake of Omega-3 fatty acids, which the Mediterranean diet is rich in, because they are a known anti-inflammatory,” Pappas said. Omega-3s and their effect on allergies have not been studied but Pappas theorizes that a diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, “may alleviate some of the inflammation caused by allergies.”

Pappas arms his readers with everything they need to know about healthy fats, provides 56 days of full-day meal plans, plus recipes with a French flare. His prescription for better health: eat more Omega-3s and fewer Omega-6s, found in refined grains, vegetable oils, meats from animals not grass-fed and baked goods.

The American diet gets a complete makeover in his book and Pappas backs up his reasoning for the changes with easy-to-understand research. He cites the first study on the Mediterranean diet in 1986 which found that those who consumed diets rich in olive oil and other monounsaturated fats had the lowest rates of death from heart disease.

Additional studies have shown:
• A slower rate of aging.
• Lower blood pressure.
• Decreased systemic inflammation in the skin and tissues.
• Increased ability to control blood sugar among diabetics.
• A decrease in depression.
• A boost in metabolism when foods abundant in Omega-3s are combined with foods high in Vitamin A.

The American diet, loaded with sugar, refined flours and chemicals, tends to clog your system, promote inflammation, advance the aging process and interfere with metabolism, Pappas writes.

Instead, he advocates we eat what those who live in the fishing village of Saint-Tropez, France, consume. Their diet consists of:
•Fresh foods including fruits, colorful vegetables, herbs and leafy greens.
•Fish, especially oily fish, such as salmon.
•Smaller portions of meat.
•Nuts, legumes and seeds.
•Oils, such as olive, walnut and avocado oils, instead of butter and trans-fats.
•Whole grains, instead of white bread, and served as an accent, rather than a focus of the meal.

Other recommendations made by Pappas that may benefit allergy sufferers include eating more foods that contain polyphenols and flavonoids because they have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties. Polyphenols are found in tea, nuts and berries, and flavonoid sources include berries, herbs, vegetables, tea and red wine.

In his book, Pappas makes a case for everyone interested in better health following his diet plan because it can make the body more resistant to chronic illnesses and improve brain function, energy level and metabolism. Best of all, he gives us permission to eat fat, albeit healthy fats, and indicates that our fat choices can make us healthier.

Expectant mothers who follow a Mediterranean diet also may protect their children from developing allergies and/or asthma, according to a recent University of Crete, Greece, study. Pregnant women who ate vegetables eight times a week, fish more than three times a week and legumes more than once a week were more likely to have children free of allergies/asthma at 6 1/2 years of age. Women who ate a lower quality diet with red meat more than three-four times a week had greater odds of having children with allergies/asthma.