I haven’t had an opportunity to test this theory, of course, but I’m reasonably certain that if my husband were stranded on the proverbial desert island with nothing more than plenty of hot coffee and smoked salmon, I don’t imagine that he’d be terribly upset.

I, too, am a huge fan of smoked salmon. It’s more than just a party-platter favorite; you can fold it into a cream sauce to spread over fettucini, bake it in a delicious “dinner pie,” whip it up into an incredible spread or make your own seafood chowder with a minimum of culinary expertise.

Best of all, you can pat yourself on the back for being health-conscious while enjoying this wonderful treat. (Well, we won’t go into the health merits of cream sauces and some of the other ingredients, but trust me, the salmon is very, very good for you)

Never thought of smoked salmon as “health food?” You might want to think again, because salmon — along with anchovies, mackerel, herring and albacore tuna — is rich in healthful natural compounds known as omega-3 fatty acids. You’ve probably heard that these substances are good for you, but the scientists of the Agricultural Research Service have been busy pinning down exactly why they’re so good for you.

For starters, the ARS scientists have been delving into the secret relationships between three fatty acids whose names sound like a bowl of alphabet soup run amok: CLA, DHA and EPA.

The specific type of CLA — short for “conjugated linolenic acid”—that the scientists have been studying is known as “trans-10, cis-12 CLA,” and it’s found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and some dietary supplements. The scientists’ particular interest lies in how this version of CLA interacts with the DHA and EPA from fish oils.

What’s so fascinating about how CLA, DHA and EPA play together? Results from a few studies conducted by researchers elsewhere have indicated that feeding fish-oil supplements — in conjunction with CLA supplements — to lab animals prevents certain harmful side effects attributed to CLA. Those side effects, none of which you’d want, include insulin resistance and fatty liver.

What the studies didn’t reveal was whether it was the fish oils’ DHA, EPA or the combination of both that provided the protection against the side effects of CLA.

Why is insulin resistance so worrisome? This is a condition in which the body isn’t able to efficiently use its own insulin, which is a hormone, to remove glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream. If that situation goes unaddressed, insulin resistance can lead to diabetes and a harmful buildup of glucose in the bloodstream. An estimated 26 million to 57 million Americans are insulin-resistant.

“Fatty liver” may sound like a joke, but it’s anything but funny. The liver condition that the team tracked is actually called “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,” and it results from an accumulation of excess fat in the liver. This, too, can cause diabetes and obesity, and the affected liver tissue can harden and scar, sometimes leading to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.

The ARS scientists conducted an eight-week test with 50 laboratory mice that indicated that DHA protected against both CLA-induced insulin resistance and CLA-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver acid. Unfortunately, the EPA offered only partial protection against CLA-induced fatty liver disease, and no protection at all against insulin resistance.

How does DHA do its magic? One clue may be a recently discovered hormone called adiponectin. This hormone is produced by fat cells in adipose tissue, and low levels of adiponectin have been associated with insulin resistance. Scientists know that CLA depletes the adipose tissue that cranks out the adiponectin — and happily, DHA restores adipose tissue, thus indirectly increasing the levels of adiponectin.

The ARS scientists noticed that the mice in their study who ate a diet containing both CLA and DHA had higher levels of adiponectin than did mice who were given feed that contained CLA, but not DHA. It may well be that boosting adiponectin levels could be an important mechanism by which DHA helps protect us against insulin resistance. But the scientists would certainly like to know more.

You’ll want to stay tuned on this one — and in the meantime, enjoy your smoked salmon!

The Agricultural Research Service is the chief in‑house scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

You can read more about ARS discoveries at http://www.ars.usda.gov/news.