Recently I wrote a short text to explain some of the omega* concepts to
some friends.

I noticed a fact which may explain the "Mediterranean Diet Miracle" a
little better.
Ok, mediterranean people (Italian Spanish French) have much less
CHD/heard disease than others.
They are supposed to eat a lot of olive oil as the main fat.

Olive oil doesn't contain too much of omega-3 oil, but the pufa's it
contains (7%) are very well balanced.
Around 50/50 percent. Ok, we know it, and it has little SFAs.

If you look at the diagram how AA (Arachidonic A.) is made, the key
point is the d5d enzyme.
It makes AA out of the (good) DGLA. AA is the source of all the bad
eicosanoids.
omega-6 pathway: LA .....-> DGLA ---(d5d)--> AA ---> baaad PG
while there is
omega-3 pathway: LNA  --------------(d5d) --> EPA (good)

So, if you have relative much LNA , compared to LA then  d5d is drawn
away from making AA.
IMO the real reason for the omega-3 ratio rule.
Somehow I noticed: there's the omega-9 pathway:

omega-9 pathway: OA  --------------(d5d) --> omega-9 LC oils

Olive oil has a *lot* of OA. See, OA *also* draws some of the d5d
attention , therefore further limiting AA production.
Even better than only a 1:1 omega-3:6 ratio, isn't it?
Helps also to explain studies which come to recommend MUFA (OA).

If AA is the real culprit (I think so) then particularly olive oil fits
in reducing it's production.

Todd, if you read this: we talked about dietary AA. You said you
wouldn't worry about dietary AA
-- if I recall right mainly because of the example of a man who ate a
lot of eggs (very high in AA) who lived to old ages, apparently without
problems.
I noticed that eggs are rich in AA, but on the other side they also have
a lot of *EPA*.
Maybe dietary EPA can outbalance dietary AA:
Here's a table of AA food items I made: http://fett-falle.de/AATab.html
(sorry, in german. Egg yolk is "Eidotter")

... and pasta elevates insulin quite little -- compared to other food
items... Insulin activates d5d.

Besides this AA stuff: Olive oil has a lot of Vitamin E per PUFA. This
would explain better cancer statistics.

regards

Amadeus