Friday, December 14, 2007

Inflammation and Fatty Acids

Now, I’m no nutritionist, but I have been taking a class at Bastyr U - the naturopathic school in town and probably the healthiest university on the planet. Forget bake sales. They sell homegrown leafy greens at lunchtime to raise money.   Feminine hygiene dispensers? All organic cotton. Lots of yoga. Not only this, it’s a treasure trove of alternative health information. While munching on my homemade, vegetarian, organic lunch purchased in the cafeteria, I was reading a journal - the Naturopathic Doctor News and Review and came across some great information for those of you who might be dealing with issues of chronic inflammation. 

 

Dietary fat has a direct relationship to how much pain and inflammation occurs in the body: An underlying factor in chronic pain is inflammation. Prolonged inflammation damages tissues, raises awareness to pain, disrupts metabolism, and wreaks havoc on general biological systems. In short, chronic inflammation often results in chronic pain. Over consumption of omega-6 oils and under consumption of omega-3 oils promotes unnecessary inflammation contributing to pain and chronic disease. However, the average American consumes far more omega-6 oils and under consumes omega-3 oils. Good news is that there is some empirical support beginning to emerge related to the efficacy of balancing fatty acids through supplementation with fish oil (in one study, 595 of participants were able to stop taking their anti-inflammatory drugs!). Even some conventional Docs are getting on board.

 

The Details:  How does this work?  I’ll try to make it simple for those of you who are interested (for those who aren’t skip ahead to The Bottom Line).When the immune system is challenged (by injury, stress, infection, etc.) fatty acids are released from cell membranes and converted into eicosanoids. If you can successfully block the conversion of essential fatty acids to certain eicosanoids you can block inflammation. Over consumption of omega-6 fatty acids increases the production of an eicosanoid that increases sensitivity to pain (a functional response when there is injury, but not so helpful if one does not exist).  Consumption of omega-3 fatty acids on the other hand, is the building block for EPA, an eicosanoid that reduces sensitivity to pain, relaxes blood vessels, and supports the body's natural anti-inflammatory response.  While both of the messenger molecules produced by omega 3s and 6s are essential, it is the balance that is important.

 

What to Do? The ideal balance can be achieved through supplementation of omega -3 fatty acids through fish oil and reduction in dietary omega-6 fatty acid.  Before the turn of the century, no significant source of omega-6 oils existed. Our bodies haven’t really adapted to easy access to refined vegetable oils. Omega-6s are found in processed foods with vegetable oils, such as corn, soy, safflower and sunflower. Also, interestingly, farmed fish, livestock and poultry that are fed cornmeal and soybased feed have increased omega-6 content (farmed fish - bad, grass fed cattle-good, “marbled” beef- bad, free-range hens -good).  Given the high amount of omega-6 in processed foods, vegetarians need to be careful too.  

 

As far as omega-3 goes, fish oil is much more readily converted to EPA than flax oil (only 10% is converted to EPA). But beware of fish oil, which can have high levels of mercury and other toxins. That's why I recommend Nordic Naturals, which according to my naturopath, has been tested to be pretty clean. It's available at Medicine Man pharmacy in town or check online for the best price.

 

Recommended anti-inflammatory dose is 3g of EPA+DHA daily.  You can also talk with your naturopath about measuring fatty acids in your blood if you are interested to know if this might be an issue for you or if you want to check dosage.

 

The Bottom Line: Inflammation can be modified through attention to diet.  Decrease omega-6 consumption (modified vegetable oils, farmed fish, grain fed cattle and poultry) and increase consumption of omega-3 with fish oil (I recommend Nordic Naturals fishoil).  3g of EPA+DHA is the recommended dosage.

 

 

 

 

Sunday, November 25, 2007

The First Entry

Welcome to my newsletter!  I’m excited to finally have a venue to share with you some of the  interesting, inspiring and health enhancing tidbits that are lingering in my head and also that I come across. 

 

What to write about for the maiden voyage? There are so many choices.  Though I’m bursting with information, I’ve settled on something simple. A poem.  This poem speaks to one of the intentions of my work - freedom.


Be Ground.

Be crumbled, so wild flowers will come up where you are.

You have been stony for too many years.

Try something different.

Surrender.

-Rumi