Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) contributes to membrane fluidity and permeability
in both cell and organelle membranes. It is critical for membrane function.
Inadequate membrane DHA leads to altered receptor function, with some
hormones having prolonged, exaggerated effects (e.g., estrogen, progesterone,
angiotensin) and other hormones having a greatly diminished effect (e.g.,
insulin, serotonin).13-15 Obviously, without appropriate hormonal signaling,
cells cannot function properly, and disease results.
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Fatty acids are essential to normal fetal development.
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Great Smokies Essential & Metabolic lab test. |
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As the fetus develops, it requires large amounts of arachidonic acid
and DHA to build the membranes for its rapidly developing central nervous
system as well as for all other cell growth. The fetus is unable to make
AA and DHA from EFA
precursors and so must take these fats pre-formed
from the mother.16 And the process doesn't end at birth, since the infant
has no appreciable EFA metabolism until about 6 months of age.17 Breast
milk continues to supply EFAs for proper neurological development. (In
fact, more than half of all dendritic connections in the central nervous
system are made after birth and within the first year of life.) Vegetarian
women tend to have much lower DHA levels than omnivore women 18 and may,
therefore, be more susceptible to complications of pregnancy because of
it. The blood levels of DHA become lower with each successive pregnancy,
exacerbating any deficiencies in the mother's EFA reserves.19
In this period of enormous strain on the DHA and AA reserves of pregnant
women, those with lowest levels of EPA/DHA in their red blood cell membranes
are 7.6 times more likely to develop pre-eclampsia than women with the
highest levels of EPA/DHA. A 15% increase in n-3 to n-6 ratio of membrane
lipids was associated with a 46% reduction in risk of pre-eclampsia.20-21
Furthermore, immediately following childbirth, women have a 6-fold greater
risk of developing serious mental disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive
disorder, and this risk remains higher for two years.22 Given these statistics,
it would seem prudent to determine DHA reserves in any woman who is pregnant
or considering pregnancy, and to monitor EFA levels closely in patients
at risk for gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia.
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Aggression and depression can be caused by a deficiency or imbalance of
fatty
acids.
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Great Smokies Essential & Metabolic lab test. |
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Find out if your chronic pain is caused by a deficiency or imbalance of
fatty
acids.
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Great Smokies Essential & Metabolic lab test. |
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Fetuses and infants have little apparent use for EPA. In fact, umbilical
chord blood contains large amounts of AA and DHA, necessary for new membrane
structure, but is nearly devoid of LA, ALA, and EPA. DHA supplementation
has been shown to increase the DHA in breast milk,23 and higher breast
milk DHA levels increase the DHA in infants' cell membranes.24 Breast
fed infants have higher concentrations of erythrocyte DHA and AA than
bottle-fed infants, and children who were breast fed score better on visual
acuity and developmental tests than their bottle-fed counterparts, presumably
because of superior neurological and retinal development that stems from
an ample supply of DHA and AA.25 Fortunately, for infants who cannot breast
feed, formulas have become available in the past several years which now
contain DGLA, AA, and DHA.
Because of the role of DHA in the structural development and membrane
function of neurological tissue, it is hardly surprising to see low DHA
levels associated with many psychological and neurological disorders.
Boys diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had
significantly lower concentrations of ALA, DGLA, AA, EPA and DHA than
controls.26-28
The bulk of evidence suggests that the core problem may be an overall
inadequate dietary intake of n-3 fats, though this does not rule out a
possible delta-6 deficiency as a contributing factor.
EFA abnormalities have been observed in general aggression as well as
in violent offenders.
Fourty-one healthy Japanese students under the stress of final exams were given DHA or placebo supplements (1.5-1.7g/d) for six months prior to the exam
period. Those taking the placebo scored significantly higher in aggression
against others than the DHA group.29 In violent offenders, high DGLA/low
cholesterol has been associated with intermittent explosive disorder,
and both increased PGE2 and TxB2 levels (from AA) were found in individuals
with a violent antisocial personality.30
In depression, cross-cultural studies have demonstrated an inverse relationship
between fish consumption and incidence of depression.31 The ratio of AA
to EPA in people with depression correlates positively with the severity
of the clinical picture.32 And, interestingly, depression correlated more
positively with coronary artery disease than any other personality variable,
including “type A” personality.33 Many physicians report rapid clinical
improvement of depression when using high-dose n-3 fats as part of their
treatment protocols.
While there can be many causes of inflammation, the final common mediators
of cellular inflammation and cellular invasion are always chemical. Two
main classes of chemotactic mediators are recognized: cytokines, derived
from macrophages and other cells, play important roles in early recruitment
of immune cells, and eicosanoids, of which leukotriene B4 is the most
highly chemotactic for neutrophils. Fish oils have been shown both to
reduce cytokine production and to shift leukotriene, prostaglandin, and thromboxane production from the highly inflammatory AA-derived metabolites
to the anti-inflammatory EPA-derived metabolites. Both mechanisms serve
to reduce overall inflammatory processes.
Leukotrienes, especially LTB4, are the class of eicosanoid thought to
be largely responsible for the chronic intestinal inflammation associated
with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In experimental animal models,
ALA was superior to EPA/DHA in reducing LTB4 levels and in lowering the
ulcer index, though both were highly effective compared to safflower oil
(n-6).34 In colitis patients treated with large doses of fish oils (3.24
g EPA and 2.16 g DHA per day) rectal dialysis showed a sharp decline in
LTB4 levels, significant improvement in histological indices, and significant
weight gain. While on the fish oil supplements, the average dose of Prednisone
was cut by more than half, compared to increased Prednisone dosages during
the placebo period.35
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