>>>> I am under the impression that one can get dry skin from a deficiency
>>>> of essential fatty acids, or other mineral/vitamin deficiencies.


I always had a very clear and smooth skin, but since i removed my
mercury feelings i got scaly red eruptions on my face specially and more
recently i seems to have a disturbed fat metabolism since i started to
supplement myself with DHEA (precursor molecule of all steroid hormones
that i am not producing because of collapse of adrenals cortex 18 years
ago) Since then i have a craving for fat and eat large amounts of any
kind of fatty foods(non denatured and no dairy, but animals and plants
sources) so most likely far from being deficient in EFA. The consequence
is that i have both greassy and dry skins alternatively in time or at
the same time on diferent places.
My point is that eating lot of an essential nutrient doesn't guaranty
its assimilation, this being regulated by our hormones. When we play
with our hormonal secretions (we do that thru what we eat , thru our
thoughts and emotions, or thru artificial supplementation like i do), it
is most likely that the inpact on the absorbtion of nutrients is as
least as important as the intake of thoses nutrients. For sure if you
don't get the nutrients you are more likely to get "deficient",
but most often in our countries it is not that much of a problem of true
deficiency but more of wrong balancing of food intake and lifestyle (i
include sleep ,exercices, relationships, ...) that play havoc with our
hormonal balance.
This being said, when i came to north america, i was amazed about the
little interest that this EFA issue was getting from the health
conscious people here (since then it became a kind of fashion), and i
saw how little of thoses were eaten by the average people (i don't want
to minimize the importances of getting them in the diet).
But getting too much could end up in deficienty, like too much sugar
lower your sugar blood level because of too much insuline secretion.
Jean-claude

>> the following research by Dr. John McDougall , M.D., a highly reputable
>>Vegetarian physician, should help allay your fears about the best
>>source of EFA's:
>>
>>Gerry
>>******
>>ESSENTIAL FATS
>>Only plants can create two types of polyunsaturated fats called essential
>>fatty acids (FE) known as omega-3 and omega-6 fats (w-3 and w-6 fats).
>>They are considered essential because we cannot make either so both must be
>>present in our foods. All other fatty acids can be synthesized by man
>>from any excess of dietary
>>energy. However, just because other fatty acids are considered
>>unessential because we can make them does not mean they are unimportant. For example,
>>arachidonic acid, derived from linoleic acid, is the major precursor for
>>those very important and powerful hormones, known as eicosanoids.
>>Linoleic acid is the most common kind of w-6 fat consumed by people.
>>Another w-6 fat often talked about is gamma linolenic acid. Alpha linolenic acid
>is the most common w-3 fat consumed. Eicosapentaenoic acid is an w-3 fat
 >>made from alpha linolenic acid and found in large concentrations in
fish oils.
>>Linoleic acid is
>>found mainly in vegetable seed oils, and the main dietary source of alpha
>>linolenic acid is leaves and some seeds.
>>There are three important functions of EFA:
>>1) The most important is as part of phospholipids in all animal cellular
>>membranes--a deficiency of EFA results in the formation of faulty membranes.
>>2) A second is the transport and oxidation of cholesterol; as a result EFA
>>tend to lower plasma cholesterol.
>>3) A third function is as precursors of tiny, but powerful hormones, known as
>>eicosanoids (prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and thromboxanes), which are only
>>formed from EFA.
>>EFA DEFICIENCY
>>Deficiency of EFA in experimental animals causes lesions mainly attributable
>>to faulty cellular membranes, such as sudden failure of growth, scaliness
>>of the skin, increased water loss by a change of skin permeability, impaired
>>fertility, kidney abnormalities, increased susceptibility to infection, and
>>weaknesses in the cardiovascular system. In man, pure deficiency of EFA has
>>been studied mostly in persons fed intravenously. However, sensitive tests
>>have found deficiencies in elderly patients, people with fat malabsorption
>>diseases, and after serious accidents or burns. EFA deficiency does not
>>occur in people following low-fat diets, because these diets are high in
>>vegetable foods, rich in EFA.
>>Through the intake of large amounts of animal products, hydrogenation of
>>vegetable oils, milling, and selection of w-3 poor foods, we have been
>>systematically depleting our intake of EFA. A relative deficiency is also
>>caused by large intakes of saturated animal fats and synthetic trans fats
>>(as found in margarine and shortenings) common in Western diets. This
>>deficiency of EFA plays an important part in the causation of atherosclerosis,
>>coronary thrombosis, multiple sclerosis, complications of diabetes mellitus,
>>hypertension, and certain forms of cancer.
>>EFA REQUIREMENTS
>>Feeding diets containing as little as 0.1 to 0.5% of the calories as
>>linoleic acid is sufficient to correct all signs of essential fatty acid
>>deficiency. However, for optimal health higher intakes are recommended. Various
>>factors affect the dietary requirement of EFA. Animal experiments and
>>epidemiological studies lead to a recommendation that the intake of w-6
>>linoleic acid should be decreased to as low as
>>2-4 % of the calories and that of w-3 fats be increased to levels
>>higher than w-6 linoleic acid for the prevention of chronic diseases
>>prevailing in the industrialized countries (Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 200:174,
>>1992).
>>
>>Since plants synthesize these fats they are the original and obvious source
>>of all EFA. If animals, say fish, have significant amounts of EFA in their

>>tissues it is because they ate plants, like algae, which originally made the
>>EFA. Natural oils contain combinations of varying amounts of both w-6 and
>>w-3 fats, as well as several saturated and monounsaturated fats.
>>Essential fatty acids are found in significant amounts in various plants: