arachidonic acid

[chillin408]

I read this stuff is really bad. Eggs and meats are said to be high in it. Well, my question is, what is the relation between cholesterol and this stuff?

Also, is the AA in eggs a good enough reason to quit eating them?

One more question! I read it goes by 20:4...and looked up the content of it in foods and I saw that fish is also high in it. But maybe I 'm misreading the nutrition facts because I didn't read anything that said fish was high in it at the other places?

 

[BackDoc]

There is a discrepancy that probably exists between the different types of arachidonic acid found in the body. Arachidonic acid seems to act like a "cell glue" in some situations that are not clear. Unless intake of foods high in arachidonic acid have been correllated to the cell glue effect occurring with platelets or blood cholesterol function have been demonstrated scientifically, I would not give much credence to the theory. In fact, there is some evidence that increased dietary intake of arachidonic acid has no effect on blood cholesterol levels:

The effect of dietary arachidonic acid on plasma lipoprotein distributions, apoproteins, blood lipid levels, and tissue fatty acid composition in humans.

Nelson GJ, Schmidt PC, Bartolini G, Kelley DS, Phinney SD, Kyle D, Silbermann S, Schaefer EJ.
Lipids 1997 Apr;32(4):427-33
"We found that dietary AA in excess of eight times the amount consumed in a typical Western diet did not alter blood lipid levels in either a positive or negative manner. Thus, increased dietary AA does not apparently have a harmful effect in humans, and animal products that contain AA, such as red meat, can be consumed without raising blood cholesterol levels"

 

[chillin408]

If someone were to eat a diet high in cholesterol ( e.g 2-3 egg yolks a day), does that make eating AA even worse than a moderate to low cholesterol diet? In other words, does dietary cholesterol impact AA levels?

The main reason I ask is because I started eating eggs 3 months ago (the omega-3 ones for the most part) and then I recently read something about AA in eggs. But when I looked up how much AA is in eggs, it is less than other foods (such as Atlantic farmed raised salmon, with respect to how much people usually eat per meal) and so I thought maybe the cholesterol in eggs makes the AA worse?

 

[BackDoc]

Actually, I believe that most people are going to be getting plenty if not too much of arachidonic acid from their diet unless they are going the low fat route. But I don't advocate low fat diets. Except for people who have physical indicators that they tend to process and store lipids more easily than carbohydrates. In the meanwhile, I would lean in favor of inclusion of omega-3's for almost everyone for the express purpose of lowering plasma and tissue arachidonic acid levels and thus indirectly lowering the downstream metabolism of arachidonic acid, which is the inflammatory prostaglandin varieties. I think Udo Erasmus says something about making sure not to tilt the scales in favor of omega-6's over omega-3's or something.

So IMO it's not a matter of being concerned to supplement with arachidonic acid-containing foods, but a matter of getting enough of the right type of omega-3 to counterbalance the arachidonic acid levels in the diet. So I feel if you had to cut back on either one, cut back on the foods that contribute to high levels of arachidonic acid. But at this time, increasing your fish oils or other foods high in omega-3 is the effective point to consider rather than cutting back on egg yolks which contain some of the good stuff as well. But other than that I don't think a few extra eggs are going to affect you negatively as long as your getting omega-3's.

This is only a comparison of the type of fatty acids, but I am hoping this might shed some light on the issue. If you are eating egg yolks for the omega-3 content but worried about the simultaneous risk of a diet not specifically low in other cholesterols, here are a couple of studies that may have indirect correllations:

Hwang, Daniel H., et al. Does vegetable oil attenuate the beneficial effects of fish oil in reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 66, July 1997, pp. 89-96

Connor, William E. Do the n-3 fatty acids from fish prevent deaths from cardiovascular disease? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 66, July 1997, pp. 188-89

"Fish oils (n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (from vegetable oils) are metabolized in a similar way and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) have been shown to block the conversion of linoleic acid, the major n-6 PUFA in vegetable oils, to arachidonic acid. These interactions and competitive metabolic pathways have raised concerns that the benefits of fish oil consumption may be reduced if the diet is high in n-6 PUFAs from vegetable oils.

Study participants consumed diets containing varying amounts of fish oils and vegetable oils for an eight-week period. The researchers found that fish oil supplementation lowered the blood plasma levels of triglycerides and arachidonic acid independent of the level of n-6 PUFAs in the diet. They conclude that vegetable oil in the diet does not reduce the benefits of fish oil in lowering the risk of death from heart disease. They also conclude that the fish oil intake required to effectively reduce triglyceride levels is less than six grams/day and that higher intakes do not confer added benefits."

However, if you had active prostate cancer, I would probably cut back on supplementing high amounts of unhealthy dietary cholesterols, probably including those high in arachidonic acid. Even though I don't really consider egg yolks to be unhealthy at all (since they represent and contain a consumate food source for the development of an entire living creature) the amounts of arachidonic acid bring that into question...somewhat related IMHO to the controversy right now with taking flaxseed oil concurrently with prostate afflictions. Another matter entirely and I should not digress.

 

[drveejay11]

Nice!

 

[chillin408]

Thanks. My main concern was if high dietary cholesterol intake would make the AA intake worse. I read that farm raised salmon and other animals fed grains are MUCH higher in AA than their wild counterparts, or their counterparts who are fed greens or high omega 3 foods (the omega 3 hens, for example). I'm going to try to avoid farm raised salmon from now. Anyway, I'm just curious: why is dietary cholesterol bad for prostate cancer?

 

[BackDoc]

It's not dietary cholesterols that are the area of concern, but the signal effects of certain foods high in certain types of fatty acids, and the resultant effects on prostate tissue. I think this is one key component of the rumor about flax seed oil being a negative thing for prostate conditions. I'll try and post more on that later when I can verify or deny the claims.