On Sun, 18 Aug 2002 23:43:55 +1000, Balzer, Ben <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Amadeus,
>D6DS is definitely involved twice- I got that from Cordain who says he got
>it from Simopoulos, and that is the current state of knowledge. As you say
>D4DS is also involved but is less important.

Thank you for that information and many thanks for the additional
information. I'm going to be off on a business trip for some days.
But I'll be using the train and that'll give me the opportunity to take a
close look.

I already have a lot of material on the topic and so far happen not to agree
with Loren Cordain in some of this topics.
Before I continue I have to check your references.

On topic of d6d/d4d I'd like to note the following:

If d6d is involved in making DHA out of EPA then..
1. this could influence d6d action on omega-6 and omega-3 pathways only
little, because the amounts of EPA are very low compared to LA/LNA.
2. eating ready made EPA (fish oils) would have the same effect in competing
   for d6d.
   Even much more, because natural self-made EPA can only show up after d6d
   was involved in making it. This would be a self-regulating feedback loop.
   ANd fish oils you can easily eat grams per day.
   In this aspect high EPA fish oils would have a bad effect.
   (but EPA is what we want for it's AA regulation effects)
3. it would be a good idea to *eat* enough of LNA an LA to keep d6d busy and
   prevent too much of the beneficial EPA from beeing converted to DHA.
   (DHA is necessary in brain and nerve cells, but once we have them
    I think we only need much less of replacements)

Well, I didn't imagine how many far-reaching implications this d6d/EPA
topic could generate.

Regards

Amadeus