-Omega-3 and 6
-Fatty Acid Imbalances
Not all fats are bad

from "Rust Out" by Dr. Royce Bailey, page 45

You have probably heard that a great way to slow down aging, reduce major disease risk factors, and lose weight is to stop eating fat.  It’s no wonder, since we tend to label all fats as “bad”.  It is true that dietary fats play a role in the development and complications of obesity, vascular disease, cancer, and various degenerative disorders.  However, because of the “fat hysteria” fatty acid deficiency is more widespread than commonly believed.  Hugh Sinclair, in 1956, in  an issue of “Lancet” argued that defects in either intake or metabolism of  EFAs play a fundamental role in many diseases common to western society.  Nobel Prize nominee (seven times) Johanna Budwig states all degenerative disease beginnings can be traced to a faulty fat metabolism. Low fat diets rob your body of EFAs resulting in reduced brain, eye and heart performance.  Studies suggest that low EFA levels may impair your concentration, memory, learning ability, cardiovascular health, mental health, visual function and insulin sensitivity causing insulin resistance.

The reason we need EFAs
Mammals can make omega-7 and 9, but not omega-3 and 6 from saturated fat.1 Thus the name Essential Fatty Acids (EFA).  This desaturation (removal of two Hydrogen atoms) allows the now unsaturated fat (lipid) to kink and flex.  EFAs use its’ curved structure to lock onto protein in the cell wall membrane and keep it in place as well as form the electron curtain or gate that allows goods in and waste out of the cell.  EFAs are attached to interlocked protein that make up fifty percent of all cell walls in your body.  To look into a normal cell or the skin of a cell you would see millions of fatty acids vibrating at millions times a second, parts being exchanged and substituted in constant progress, biochemical doors opening and closing selectively admitting one element or nutrient and emitting waste through another gateway. The dynamic fluid nature of the membrane increases when unsaturated fatty acids are more abundant.  Since fatty acids absorbed in the gut are taken directly into cells without alteration, it is true that “you are what you eat” in terms of dietary fat.

Disease caused by deficiencies
Supplementing your diet with EFAs may lower your blood pressure, lower dangerous triglycerides, raise good cholesterol (HDLs), increase artery flexibility and trigger anti-inflammatory processes which help reduce the risk of arthritis, cancer, psoriasis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, peripheral neuropathy, Crohn’s disease, cardiac dysrrhythmias (Atrial Fibribration and Ventricular Tachycardia) and cell dysfunction.  EFAs protect your arteries by thinning the blood, which in turn can help prevent the clotting that leads to heart attacks and strokes.  EFAs added in the GISSI trial decreased sudden death by 40%.  For every 1000 post-MI patients treated, 6 lives per year were saved by adding EFAs.  EFAs also have been shown to inhibit a naturally occurring substance known as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), which contributes to blood vessel inflammation by down regulating Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-a ).

Imbalanced?
Who may have a fatty acid imbalance?  Those with endocrine imbalance, immune dysfunction, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, environmental illness, Amyptrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), cognitive impairment, Parkinsonism, glaucoma, gastrointestinal difficulties, anxiety, autism, Lupus, Pre-menstrual Syndrome(PMS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), eating disorders, depression, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury.

EFAs In Foods
Food sources of these EFAs include raw unroasted seeds (sunflower, sesame, flax, poppy, and pumpkin seeds) and unroasted nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachios, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, macadamias , filberts) and their oils.

EFAs vs. Trans Fats
Unfortunately, modern oil extraction methods destroy these heat-sensitive oils.  Due to their tendency to become rancid quickly, EFAs are virtually stripped out of foods in our supermarkets in deference to long-lived but harmful fats including trans fatty acids and hydrogenated oils which have long shelf lives: margarine, shortening and most commercial vegetable oils.

1    Our bodies can place a double bond in a saturated fat in the seventh or higher carbon position (from the gamma end) but we can’t place it lower.
2    EFAs can also be converted to energy and to a subverted police force (prostaglandins, leukotrienes and thromboxanes) that when disturbed can disrupt the immune system and indirectly attack our organs, ie autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid and osteo arthritis.

References:
Kane PhD, Patricia, “Fats”, Handout from her class at John’s Hopkins University.

Von Schaky MD, Clemens, “The Effect of Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids On Coronary Atherosclerosis,” Ann Intern Med, 1999; 130:554-562.

Wouters, Geusens P., “Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation in Active Rheumatoid Arthritis, A 12 month, Double-Blind, Controlled Study,” Arthritis Rheum, 1994 Jun; 37(6): 824-829.

Bahmer, FA, “Treatment of Atropic Dermatitis With Borage Seed Oil, A Time Series Analysis Study,” Kinderarztl Prax, 1992 Oct; 60(7): 199-202.

Health Watch, “Omega: The Fat You Never Knew You Needed,” CIFS&Fibromyalgia Journal, 1999; Vol.9, No.1, 28-29.

Maresta, A, “Restenosis Prevention After PTCA With Omega-3 Fatty Acis: Results Of The Randomized “ESPRIT” Study,” ACCIS’99, Abstract:833-2.

Goodfellow, J, “Dietary Supplementation With Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Systemic Large Artery Endothelial Function in Subjects With Hypercholesterolemia,” JACC, 2000, Vol.35, No.2, 265-270.

Goldman, E.L., “DHA Is The Best Fish Oil For Cutting Blood Pressure,” Internal Medicine News, 1999 Sept 15; 14.

Wilson, C., “Just Say No...to NSAIDS,” Great Smokies News &Views, 1999 Mar-Apr, Vol.1, Issue 1; 6-7.

Holliman, K, “Fish Oil Is Cardioprotective,” Cardiology Today, 1999 May; 13.

Jancin, B, “Fish Oil Reduces 2nd Cardiac Events In MI Survivors,” Internal Medicine News, 1999 Apr 15; 1&5.

Nutrition News, “Fight Alzheimer’s Disease With Fish,” Prevention, 1998 Dec; 44.

SerVaas, C., “Fats For Mental Health,” The Saturday Evening Post, 1999 Mar-Apr; 36-84.

Heart-Healthy Supplements, “Fish Oil,” Letsliveonline.com, 2001 Feb; 41.