w Essential Fatty Acids
w-3 fatty acids are a group of polyunsaturated fatty acids (including a-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) that come from food sources or dietary supplements. Food sources include fish and fish oils (including salmon, rainbow trout, mackerel, krill, anchovy, and sardines), flaxseed oil, berries (such as lingonberry and black raspberry), walnuts, and wheat germ. However, w-3 sources that are not from fish require conversion in the body and are therefore not a preferred source.
A high w-6/w-3 ratio, as is found in today's Western diets, promotes the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and possibly cancer. Increased dietary intake of linoleic acid leads to oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), platelet aggregation, and interferes with the incorporation of essential fatty acids (EFA) in cell membrane phospholipids. Both w-6 and w-3 fatty acids influence gene expression. w-3 fatty acids have strong anti-inflammatory effects via the suppression of inflammatory cytokines IL-1, TNF-a, and IL-6. w-6 fatty acids tend to be proinflammatory. Because inflammation is at the base of many chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease, imbalances in the w-6/«-3 ratio plays an important role in the manifestation of disease, particularly in persons with genetic variation, as for example in individuals with genetic variants at the 5-lipoxygenase genes. Increased dietary arachidonic acid significantly enhances the apparent atherogenic effect of the genotype, whereas increased dietary intake of w-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA blunts this effect. The diet-gene interaction further suggests that dietary w-6 fatty acids promote, whereas marine w-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA inhibit leukotriene-mediated inflammation that leads to atherosclerosis.
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