April 9, 2008 – Margaret's Corner

The April 1 issue of “Blood” has an interesting study that examines the role played by n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, gotta love that acronym! Oh, "n" stands for omega, by the way) in angiogenesis, which, in just a few words, is a process whereby tumours develop a blood supply and are able to grow and live as happily as clams at high tide. So clearly one of our goals should be to block the blood ( = food) supply to tumours. As we have seen, a couple of simple ways we can do that is to take curcumin and drink coffee (probably not at the same time, though I haven’t tried doing that, I admit…).

The full study (abstract: http://tinyurl.com/2nvqnm), which I was able to read thanks to Sherlock

tells us that n-3 PUFAs inhibit the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), a critical process that affects tumor growth and dissemination. So we can now add n-3 to our list of angiogenesis inhibitors. Excellent.

But what about n-6 fatty acids? The abstract tells us that n-6 PUFAs stimulate angiogenesis. Does that make n-6 one of the bad guys? That’s what I thought, at first. But no, we need both these fatty acids in order to be healthy, so eliminating n-6s from our diet would be a very VERY bad move.

What we lack is BALANCE between the two omegas. Read this: In terms of the consequences for human health, it has been shown that Japanese who migrated to the United States and acquired the local dietary habits leading to an increase in the dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 16:1 resulted in health problems in the migrants similar to those that already existed in the local population. Sixteen to one! That’s astounding. Even more astounding: the ideal balance should be 1:1, at the most 4:1. But the average North American diet, and probably European by now, ranges from 11:1 to 30:1. Yikes!

According to Andrew Weil, M.D., This dietary imbalance may explain the rise of such diseases as asthma, coronary heart disease, many forms of cancer, autoimmunity and neurodegenerative diseases, all of which are believed to stem from inflammation in the body. The imbalance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids may also contribute to obesity, depression, dyslexia, hyperactivity and even a tendency toward violence.(see: http://tinyurl.com/4s32fc; see also: http://tinyurl.com/565h8n).

Now, what happens when we ingest n-3s and n-6s? They get converted by so-called PUFA bioconversion enzymes. Otherwise, these fatty acids would not be of any use to us at all. The researchers state that their findings suggest that n-6 and n-3 PUFAs compete for enzymes involved in PUFA biotransformation. It is widely believed that PUFA bioconversion enzymes have a greater affinity for n-3 PUFAs so that their biotransformation is favored when the dietary n-3 PUFA intake is high. This simply means that the two omegas compete for the attention of these bioconversion enzymes, and n-3s happen to be the winners.

Hmmm, interesting little fact that I didn’t know: n-3 PUFAs inhibit NF-kappaB AND Bcl-2. Well, well. Another good reason to include them in our diet.

At any rate, our bodies are not able to produce these fatty acids from scratch, and in fact that is why they are called "essential" (essential for health, but cannot be made inside the body), so we need to get them from our food.

Dietary sources of n-3s: mainly cold water fish such as salmon, herring, anchovies, but be careful about the potential presence of heavy metals, PCBs and dioxin (!); also, but to a lesser degree, flax, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans, butternuts, nut oils, as well as the seeds of: chia sage, kiwi, lingonberry, black raspberry. For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_3. By the way, today I learned that mercury does not get stored in fish oil (only in the tissue). How about that? I also learned that some manufacturers are able to purify fish oil via molecular distillation, which increases the cost, but who wants to be swallowing dioxin or pesticides, after all? I would rather pay more for a high quality product. So, do your research, watch what you buy, and don’t go for el cheapo.

Fanatic Cook tells us that walnuts, soy and canola oil contain more n-6 than n-3. She has some excellent pages on n-3, including this one (http://tinyurl.com/22xd95), where she informs us that only a TINY part of n-3s from nuts and non-animal sources has anti-inflammatory effects. She explains why. N-3 has to be converted, and, as she notes, if you want to make sure you’re getting enough of the active forms of n-3, it’s best to eat an animal that has done the conversion for you. Interesting. Okay, I am beginning to see more fish in my future. We are lucky to get our fish from a small Tuscan fishing cooperative, so we can be sure that the fish is fresh and that no mass fish slaughters take place in the Tyrrhenian Sea. That’s always a consideration for my tender heart.

Dietary sources of n-6s: poultry, eggs, cereals, whole-grain breads, baked goods, most plant-based cooking oils (sunflower, corn etc.), nuts, borage oil. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_6

In sum, have I reached any conclusions? Well, more research is needed, but I think I will switch from flaxseed oil to fish oil or, perhaps even better, krill oil. The diet of cold water fish consists mainly of krill (a step down the food chain, see image on the left), and the main advantage of swallowing krill oil is that it contains fewer pollutants; a disadvantage is that it has less n-3 compared to its predators. Oh well, we can’t have everything!

Hi everyone! My blog photos have disappeared. All of them. Swallowed up by cyberspace or by the vengeful Google Ads. Gulp! I have gotten in touch with the Healthblogs manager, and am sure that order will be restored as soon as she reads the message (it’s still the middle of the night in the U.S., so she’s still asleep for sure). Anyway, no worries.

Yesterday I received more information concerning the DMAPT clinical trial. The UK trial is open only to UK citizens. Well, that takes care of that!

I now do know where the trial is going to be held, though: at the University of Cardiff, under Dr. Alan Burnett, Head of the Haematology Department. As of today, though, there is no information on the trial on the U. of Cardiff website. The waiting game continues.

I am working on a post, so off I go!