On Fri, 3 May 2002 10:27:12 -0400, Marilyn Harris <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>At 09:58 AM 5/3/02 -0400, Marianne Fuller wrote:
>>The Eades in Protein Power say that flax seed oil (and flax seeds, I
guess)
>>are NOT good for you because they contain ALA and ALA suppresses all
>>eicosanoids, ... It gets awfully confusing.

>"Many of the effects of ALA are attributed
>to its conversion to eicosapentaenoic
>acid (EPA) and docos ahexaenoic acid
>(DHA). ....

>Maybe someone else can add to the topic?

ALA and LA inhibit each other if one of these is present in overwhelming
quantities. The same enzymes are used to process each of them (named d6d,
d5d, elongases).

You have

ALA --> D6D -->  further desaturated and longer chain FA's like EPA, DHA
LA  --> D6D -->  DGLA+AA --> most of the effective good or bad eicosanoids

If you ate *only* flax seed oil, you had 53% ALA and only 13% LA.
Much d6d capacity would be used up by ALA and little for LA.

But in virtually all other vegetable oils its opposite. E.g.
sunflower would have 0.5 ALA to 61 LA.
Nearly all d6d would be used up by the LA and nothing left for the ALA.

Likewise saturated and monounsaturated FAs compete for some other enzymes.
Competing against both, LA and ALA.

I consider the P.P. statement very unlikely.
A *much* bigger problem is that high LA oils suppress the ALA (omega-3)
pathway. The long chain omega-3 oils steer the eicosanoid production
towards the prostaglandins we want.

And several other conditions that prefer bad prostaglandins over good ones.
Like high insulin levels (particularly by insulin resistance).

And that a very low percentage of LA or LNA in the diet gets outcompeted by
 SatFA and MonoFA. This decreases prostaglandins and steers the remaining
ones to the bad side.

No fear from ALA. You can easily, very easily raise the LA percentage in the
diet. To reach a more natural ratio of about 1:1.

I hope I have described the basics facts in short (my challenge).

regards

Amadeus S.