Flax Oil Loses to Fish Oil and Borage Oil for Dieters
Released on = March 31, 2006, 5:06 am
Press Release Author = Thomas Bond, Level1Diet.com
Industry = Healthcare
Press Release Summary = New research reveals millions of Americans are deficient in
the vital digestive enzyme required to convert flax oil into EPA and GLA, the two
nutrients that fight inflammation. Borage and fish oils do not require that enzyme,
and are fast replacing flax oil among informed dieters.
Press Release Body = West Palm Beach FL -- According to at least one popular diet
web site, millions of dieters around the world may be using the wrong oil on their
salads, or taking the wrong omega-3 dietary supplement pill.
For years, millions of people have been pouring flax seed oil over their salads,
adding it to recipes and menus, and taking big capsules of it on a daily basis. The
idea was to get something called EPA, DHA, and GLA from the essential omega-6 and
omega-3 fatty acids it contains. The problem is that to get GLA, EPA and DHA from
flax oil, you need a special digestive enzyme. And, guess what? The news from
Level1Diet.com is that only young, healthy people make enough of the enzyme to do
the conversion from flax oil into these special nutrients that people are looking
for.
What are all these initials and why do people want them? EPA, DHA and GLA are called
\"essential fatty acids\" because your body can\'t make them by itself. You must eat
foods (or take supplements) from outside sources containing either Lenoleic Acid
(LA) or Alpha Lenolenic Acid (LNA). Flax seed oil contains both of these.
If you can properly digest these essential fats, you get two wonderful health
boosters for your body called EG1 and EG3 (prostaglandin series-1 and series-3).
These are terrific aids in fighting inflammation. When you reduce inflammation, you
help your body prevent major diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes
and many more.
What if you can\'t digest the flax seed oil? You will use another digestive enzyme,
D5D (delta-5 desaturase), to convert the flax oil into AA or arachidonic acid, which
quickly becomes EG2 (prostaglandin series-2). In the absence of sufficient D6D
activity, flax oil acts just like most other vegetable oils. It can actually
increase your inflammation and your risk for all the major inflammatory and
metabolic diseases. The list includes cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer,
diabetes and dozens more. The Level1Diet.com site lists dozens more associated
diseases, adding up to 73% of all the deaths each year in the U.S.
So, for years people have been buying flax oil to get EPA, DHA and GLA. And all this
time they may have actually been making their inflammatory health slightly worse, or
at best merely wasting their money.
The Linoleic Acid flax seed oil contains has to be converted into Gamma Linolenic
Acid using the Delta-6 Desaturase D6D enzyme. However, D6D is made inoperative by
high levels of insulin (from eating sugar or simple starches), alcohol, pollutants,
or high levels of Omega-6 Fatty acids from vegetable oils, fried foods, trans-fatty
acids, emotional stress, etc. D6D also becomes less available anyway as we age. Most
importantly, there is a common inherited gene that causes a lifelong D6D deficiency.
Scientists speculate that this gene is probably the true cause of inherited
cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes, and other metabolic inflammatory
conditions.
Whether inherited or dietary, D6D deficiency may be the major factor behind most
major deadly diseases. This revolutionary insight is a driving force behind the
Level1Diet.com Anti-Inflammation Health Program.
SOLUTION?
The idea is to make an end run around the missing or not-working D6D issue. Fish
oils give you EPA and DHA with needing to be converted by D6D. Borage oil gives you
GLA with using D6D. So the answer is simply to add them into your diet. (1) Take
Borage Oil (about 24% GLA), which gives you GLA without needing D6D (best source).
Recommended daily dose is about 300mg of GLA from one 1,200mg oil capsule for most
normal sized people - up to twice that for very large people. (2) Take Fish Oil,
which gives you EPA and DHA without needing D6D. Recommended dose is about 2.4 grams
a day of the total EPA and DHA in the oil you are using. That usually means about
3-4 pharmaceutical grade capsules, or up to 10 normal standard health store grade
capsules. Both these oils together will help your body produce more of the
anti-inflammatory prostaglandin series-1 and series-3 inflammation fighters.
If all of that complex metabolic chemistry is confusing, just take Level1Diet.com\'s
word for it -- while flax seed oil may not hurt you much, a much better choice for
most of us would be fish and borage oils. For more information, read more about flax
oil, borage oil and fish oil at the Level1Diet.com web site --
http://www.level1diet.com/.