Omega-6 fatty acid | Eat and Be Healthy

You’ve seen the title , and the question is what is Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid’s or PUFA? They are in chemical terms, a fatty acid that has more than one (poly) double bond in the carbon chain. They’re unsaturated because they’re missing out on what saturated fatty acid has — hydrogen atoms. That makes the bonds incomplete. Imagine a chain of links that are missing a joint or two, on each and every link, it wouldn’t be very strong or stable. Because of this instability, polyunsaturated fatty acids are highly prone to oxidation, which is basically means the chain of molecules are broken, and causes problems with how your body reacts to the acid.

In the following image we can see the molecule chain of unsaturated fatty acid and the missing atom. This is how the fat chain is inside the food source of the UFA (unsaturated fatty acid). But remove it from its source and it goes haywire so to speak.

What plant sources have this UFA? Or better yet what cooking oils or foods are you eating that have this form of fat in it? Vegetable seed oils, like: Canola oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and even cotton seed oil. These oils are all high in omega-6 which is considered an PUFA. The only cooking oils on the market and available to buy that are not high in PUFA’s or none at all: coconut oil, olive oil and palm oil.

Again what makes the unsaturated fatty acid highly prone to oxidation? Heat, light and oxygen itself. Imagine the heat process used to extract the oil, is then bottled and sold at market. It is on the shelf exposed to light. We then buy it, open the bottled oil, now being exposed to oxygen and we are again heating it up to cook with. Manufactures make the claim, during the proses of extracting the oil it is not exposed to oxygen. But if that is true or not, you just exposed it by opening the bottle.

It is true we need PFUAs in our diet and the main dietary PUFAs sources are , omega-3 fat and omega-6 fat. Both are considered essential because they are not manufactured by the body and they need to be obtained from outside sources. But too much of the PFUA omega-6 can be damaging to the human body. Inflammation is critical in the body as a response to infections, viruses or traumas, but chronic inflammation can become very problematic. For example, normal inflammatory processes stimulate the immune system, but chronic inflammation suppresses it. Too much omega-6 is the main cause of chronic inflammation.

Omega-3 fats are said to be anti-inflammatory because they mitigate the action of Omega-6 fats. The two need to work together when consumed to be beneficial for our bodies. Even consuming omega-6 with fructose is damaging to the body. Lots of prepared foods have in there ingredients any on of these oils canola oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and use fructose as a sweetener (usually HFC or high fructose corn syrup). Most of our children eat these packaged foods in the morning. Anyone of there favorite cereals are prepared with omega-6 oils and HFC., and we all wonder why school aged children are over weight, including being obese.

As was said we need PUFAs in our diet but in small amounts to modulate some essential inflammatory pathways, but in excess they backfire, make us chronically inflamed and lead to all sorts of problems in the long-term. Lets not forget that inflammation is at the source of almost every modern health problem. Excess PUFA consumption promotes general and chronic inflammation and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The principle problem with omega-6 is that our bodies are not meant to handle much of it. Our fat cells are comprised of very little omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and are instead are made up of mostly saturated and monounsaturated fat. So when consuming the oils from these food sources in concentrated form, instead of eating moderate amounts of the actual foods they came from, we are confronted with a serious imbalance, and the resulting health problems we all are facing.

The main sources of Omega-3 PUFAs are fatty fish and some seeds like flax seeds, but fatty fishes like salmon, sardines and herring really are the real desirable sources of Omega-3 PUFA because they contain the usable forms of the fat, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). The form of omega-3 often found in plants sources like flax seeds is ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) and needs to be elongated multiple times to be transformed to a usable form in our body. The process is not efficient at all and only a small fraction of Omega-3 in the ALA form ends up being transformed to a usable form.

So the question I would raise is: If the fat cells in our bodies are comprised of very little omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, but instead are made up of mostly saturated and monounsaturated fats, why are we encouraged to eat less saturated fats or none at all and secondly are told stick to eating PFUAs?

The author of Eat and Be Healthy (the blog for the web-site…”Savor the Food and your Health”) does not discourage any diet at all or consulting with a medical professional, being it an MD or ND (natural Pythic doctor). But we do encourage you to question what you may or may not being told in respects to your health. There are so many organizations alone in the USA, Heart and Lung Association of the USA, the FDA (Drug and Food Administration) and even the Food Pyramid, which the FDA uses as an example how we should eat and how much. WE except anything told to us, and rightly so as they are educated in the field of food, health and nutrition. But yet we are still unhealthy and sickly.

All Eat and Be Healthy encourages is examine the subject for yourself. Don’t be afraid to question, because you are the one in the long run who has to suffer with the illnesses that over consumption of omega-6 or PUFAs are causing.

Images sources: Department of Biological Sciences

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