Omega-6
Oils and Inflammation
by Barbara D. Allan
Author of Conquering Arthritis
A reader wrote:
“I was just reading the section ‘The
Magic of Omega-3 Oils - Calming Inflammation’
on page 224 of your book and it says ‘Omega-3
calms inflammation and Omega-6 turns it on.
While doing some other research on Omega-6 I happened
to note an author from WebMD indicating that Evening
Primrose which contains mainly the Omega-6 ingredient
may also have anti-inflammatory properties.
Can you explain this discrepancy of opinion?”
Yes. I can. The discrepancy is because the statement
'Omega-3 calms inflammation and Omega-6 turns it on'
is an over-simplification that I was using to make a
point.
If you don’t like chemistry or too many details,
just skip the next three paragraphs. If you are interested
in the fuller story, read on.
The fuller story is that there are many kinds of omega-6
fatty acids. One of the major ones in the diet is linoleic
acid (LA) which is found in sunflower oil,
safflower oil, sesame oil and corn oil. This type of
fatty acid is an essential nutrient for humans and must
be present in the diet in low amounts. When it is present
in low amounts and when the body is functioning well,
some of this LA is converted to gamma linoleic
acid (GLA). GLA is anti-inflammatory
and is found in evening primrose oil.
For people who aren't so good at making GLA, supplementing
the diet with evening primrose oil or other sources
of GLA such as borage seed oil, black current seed oil,
or grape seeds can help combat inflammation.
LA is also converted by the body into arachadonic
acid (AA), another omega-6 fatty acid which
is highly inflammatory. The higher
the levels of LA in the diet, the more AA is made. AA
is also found in animal products such as meat, dairy
and eggs. Other than supplementing with GLA, the higher
the level of omega-6 intake in the diet, the more prone
a person is to inflammation.
|
