Hi Amadeus;

I think though, that Marianne's point was that she was confused because of
the contradictory assertions about ALA and eicosanoids she is getting from
different sources. She said that the Eades say that ALA suppresses the
eiconasoids while I have provided a qoute that would indicate otherwise.

You are saying that LA suppresses ALA which in turn lessens its (th ALA's)
efffect on the production of eiconasoids?

And that flax seed oil's ALA is less effected by LA since there is
relatively little LA inflax seed. LA being the culprit (and not ALA) which
reduces eiconosoid (and, ultimately, prostoglandin) production.

I guess you agree with the excerpt I provided?

Marilyn


At 11:19 AM 5/3/02 -0500, Amadeus Schmidt wrote:
>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.
>
>