Hello all,
I've just read through most of HSWC's essays and some of the discussions, and it's been very very interesting, but there are a couple of things that I've found confusing/not clear...
How does AA "get into" cells? I mean from the very point of ingesting either AA or LA what exactly happens?
QUOTE: Fatty acids are usually ingested as triglycerides, which cannot be absorbed by the intestine. They are broken down into free fatty acids and monoglycerides by pancreatic lipase, which forms a 1:1 complex with a protein called colipase which is necessary for its activity. The activated complex can only work at a water-fat interface: it is therefore essential that fatty acids (FA) be emulsified by bile salts for optimal activity of these enzymes. People who have had their gallbladder removed due to gall stones consequently have great difficulty digesting fats. Most are absorbed as free fatty acids and 2-monoglycerides, but a small fraction is absorbed as free glycerol and as diglycerides. Once across the intestinal barrier, they are reformed into triglycerides and packaged into chylomicrons or liposomes, which are released into the lymph system and then into the blood. Eventually, they bind to the membranes of hepatocytes, adipocytes or muscle fibers, where they are either stored or oxidized for energy. The liver acts as a major organ for fatty acid treatment, processing chylomicron remnants and liposomes into the various lipoprotein forms, namely VLDL and LDL. Fatty acids synthesized by the liver are transported in the blood as VLDL. In peripheral tissues, lipoprotein lipase digests part of the VLDL into LDL and free fatty acids, which are taken up for metabolism. LDL is absorbed via LDL receptors. This provides a mechanism for absorption of LDL into the cell, and for its conversion into free fatty acids, cholesterol, and other components of LDL. UNQUOTE
"Eventually, they bind to the membranes of hepatocytes, adipocytes or muscle fibers, where they are either stored or oxidized for energy."
Or is it
"Arachidonic acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is present in the phospholipids (especially phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositides) of membranes of the body's cells, and is abundant in the brain."
If it's the latter how does it get from food to the cellular membranes?
From this, if someone followed the high-SFA, low-PUFA recommendations HSWC makes, how does mead acid "replace" the AA?
The body takes SFAs and elongate and desaturate them with enzymes, producing mead acid, which is then stored "in the cell" (membrane?) like AA?
I think I'm mainly having trouble visualising how AA/mead acid is stored "in the cells, but the inflammation part and germ theory debunking is very well explained.... |