“I did low carb diets for years before really paying attention to seed oils. They are toxic, artificial, industry created waste products - created by pressing and processing the seeds of grains and legumes to get the small amount of mostly polyunsaturated fat out of the seeds. Nowadays, these oils are in nearly every packaged food product, and usually come with grains and sugar. Before we invented seed oils in the late 1800’s, people cooked with lard and tallow and other animal fats; food was delicious and healthy. Then we added all these seed oils, marketed them as healthy and modern, demonized saturated fat and cholesterol and fatty red meat - and started a massive experiment on the human species. Did you know that Proctor and Gamble, one of the largest seed oil producers, funded the American Heart Association in the 1950’s and influenced it greatly, and that the AHA then indicted saturated fat and put the check mark on seed oils? Going carnivore means cutting out all of these oils from your life. Hopefully this wiki page will convince you of why that is necessary.”
- Travis Statham, editor
PUFAs are fatty acids that have two or more double bonds in each molecule. There are two types of PUFAs in dietary oil: omega-3 and omega-6, also known as ω-3 and ω-6. They are distinguished by the position of the first double bond. Omega-3 fatty acids have their first double bond at the third carbon atom from the methyl end of the carbon chain while omega-6 fatty acids have their first double bond at the sixth carbon atom from the methyl end.
Structural representation of ALA Figure 1. Structural representation of ALA (ω-3) and LA (ω-6), two essential fatty acids and the most common PUFAs found in dietary oil. The red numbers represents the carbon atoms counting from the methyl end of the chain. The blue counts from the carboxyl end.
The most common omega-3 fatty acids in the human diet are ALA, EPA, and DHA while the most common omega-6 fatty acids are LA and AA (Table 1). The omega-3 fatty acid ALA and the omega-6 fatty acid LA are referred to as essential fatty acids because the body cannot synthesize them. Essential fatty acid deficiency can lead to dermatitis, stunted growth in infants and children, increased susceptibility to infection, and poor wound healing. In human cells all long-chain omega-3 fatty acids are synthesized from ALA and all long-chain omega-6 fatty acids are synthesized from LA.
| TYPES | ABBREVIATION | COMMON NAME | STRUCTURE | SOURCES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omega-3 | ALA | α-Linolenic acid | C18 : 3 | Oils: flaxseed, olive, canola |
| Omega-3 | EPA | Eicosapentaenoic acid | C20 : 5 | Fish oil, marine algae |
| Omega-3 | DHA | Docosahexaenoic acid | C22 : 6 | Fish oil, marine algae |
| Omega-6 | LA | Linoleic acid | C18 : 2 | Oils: corn, soybean, sunflower, peanut |
| Omega-6 | AA | Arachidonic acid | C20 : 4 | Small amount in meat, dairy products and eggs |
In summary, the benefits of a low-fat diet (particularly a diet replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids) are severely challenged. Dietary guidelines should assess the totality of the evidence and strongly reconsider their recommendations for replacing saturated fats with carbohydrates or Ω-6 polyunsaturated fats.
Health Implications of High Dietary Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
Increases in the ratio of n-6 : n-3 PUFA, characteristic of the Western diet, could potentiate inflammatory processes and consequently predispose to or exacerbate many inflammatory diseases. The change in ratio and increase in n-6 PUFA consumption change the production of important mediators and regulators of inflammation and immune responses towards a proinflammatory profile. Chronic conditions such as CVD, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, and IBD are all associated with increased production of PGE2, LTB4, TXA2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, whereby the production of these factors increases with increased dietary intake of n-6 PUFA and decreased dietary intake of n-3 PUFA. In conclusion, the unbalanced dietary consumption of n-6 : n-3 PUFA is detrimental to human health, and so the impact of dietary supplementation with n-3 PUFA upon the alleviation of inflammatory diseases, more specifically, NAFLD needs to be more thoroughly investigated.
Created by Travis Statham @travis_statham January 15, 2019
