Not too little omega 3s, but too much omega 6s.
- From: "montygram" <nazztrader@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 May 2005 15:48:08 -0700
Here's just another example of what I've been saying here for years
now. At least these researchers are honest enough to admit what their
experiment revealed, unlike so many others who begin with assumptions
about how very dangerous fatty acids are "essential" to humans when one
rat experiment was done in 1929/30 (Burr & Burr), before all essential
nutrients, such as some of the B vitamins, were known, and thus any
experiment done at that time would have to be done again with all the
known nutrients, controlling for what is being tested for essentiality
(plus, dogs would be better than rats for this experiment - much closer
to humans in terms of fatty acid metabolization).
Source: www.sciencedaily.com
5/25/2005
Study Links Brain Fatty Acid Levels To Depression
Bethesda, MD -- A group of researchers from Israel has discovered that
rats exhibiting the signs of depression have increased levels of the
omega-6 fatty acid, arachidonic acid, in their brains. The details of
their findings appear in the June issue of the Journal of Lipid
Research, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
journal.
During recent years, omega-3 fatty acids have enjoyed increased
popularity as numerous studies have shown that supplementing diets with
fish oil (a natural source of this polyunsaturated fatty acid) does
everything from reducing the risk of heart disease to preventing
arthritis. There is also evidence that depression may be associated
with a dietary deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids. This "phospholipid
hypothesis" of depression has been supported by research showing that
omega-3 fatty acid concentration in the blood of depressed patients is
lower than that in control patients.
"The "phospholipid hypothesis" of depression postulates that decreased
omega-3 fatty acid intake, and hence, perhaps decreased brain omega-3
fatty acid content, could be responsible for the disease," explains Dr.
Pnina Green of Tel Aviv University. "In humans, because of high dietary
variability and the obvious inability to examine brain tissue, the
theory is backed up mainly by indirect evidence. The availability of
the Flinders Sensitive Line rat, an animal model of depression,
overcomes both these obstacles."
In the Journal of Lipid Research study, Dr. Green in collaboration with
Dr Gal Yadid of Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, used the Flinders
Sensitive Line rats to investigate the link between omega-3 fatty acids
and depression. They examined the brains of the depressed rats and
compared them with brains from normal rats. Surprisingly, they found
that the main difference between the two types of rats was in omega-6
fatty acid levels and not omega-3 fatty acid levels. Specifically, they
discovered that brains from rats with depression had higher
concentrations of arachidonic acid, a long-chain unsaturated metabolite
of omega-6 fatty acid.
Arachidonic acid is found throughout the body and is essential for the
proper functioning of almost every body organ, including the brain. It
serves a wide variety of purposes, from being a purely structural
element in phospholipids to being involved in signal transduction and
being a substrate for a host of derivatives involved in second
messenger function.
"The finding that in the depressive rats the omega-3 fatty acid levels
were not decreased, but arachidonic acid was substantially increased as
compared to controls is somewhat unexpected," admits Dr. Green. "But
the finding lends itself nicely to the theory that increased omega-3
fatty acid intake may shift the balance between the two fatty acid
families in the brain, since it has been demonstrated in animal studies
that increased omega-3 fatty acid intake may result in decreased brain
arachidonic acid."
Although far less attention has been paid to dietary requirements for
omega-6 fatty acids, which can be found in most edible oils and meat,
perhaps in the future depression may be controlled by increasing
omega-3 fatty acid intake and decreasing omega-6 fatty acid intake.
.
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