Hello Hans,
I just found this forum after being quite a few years on the ALA, EPA, DHA, GLA supplement program. I was mostly (mis)guided by the Mercola.com site advertising fish and recently also krill oil. I must say that my health deteriorated to the extend that I am no longer able to lift weights due to broken knee cartilage, have arthritis, IBS/Crohn's disease and many food intolerances (IgG) as well as pollen allergies... I have searched everything possible but could not find any clear clues to my worsening health problems. Finally when I am reading your essays it all adds up. Actually I have been wondering how it is possible that all long lived species with high energy production like birds have evolved to contain more saturated lipids in their membranes while people are recommended to consume more unsaturated lipids by the "antiaging medicine therapists". I just stopped all the PUFAs but would like to discuss which oil is actually good and safe to consume.
You recommend the coconut oil but this oil is actually used to induce atherosclerosis in experimental animals (just try searching Medline with "atherosclerosis coconut oil"). See e.g. this:
Br J Nutr. 1999 Nov;82(5):401-9.
Modulation of the regression of atherosclerosis in the hamster by dietary lipids: comparison of coconut oil and olive oil.
Mangiapane EH, McAteer MA, Benson GM, White DA, Salter AM.
Division of Nutritional Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, UK.
The Golden Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) has been shown to be a useful model of both human lipoprotein metabolism and the development of atherosclerosis. We report the effects of dietary lipids on the progression and regression of atherosclerosis in this model. In the first study, hamsters fed on coconut oil (150 g/kg diet) and cholesterol (30 g/kg diet) developed lipid-rich lesions in the ascending aorta (0.28 (SD 0.14) mm2) and aortic arch (0.01 (SD 0.01) mm2) after 4 weeks that continued to progress over the next 8 weeks (0.75 (SD 0.41) mm2 and 0.12 (SD 0.11) mm2 for the ascending aorta and aortic arch respectively). Removal of cholesterol from the diet halted this progression. Furthermore, in animals fed on olive oil in the absence of added cholesterol, plasma LDL-cholesterol concentrations were lower (P < 0.05) and the extent of atherosclerotic lesions was reduced (P < 0.001 for both regions of the aorta) compared with animals fed on coconut oil (with no added cholesterol). In a second study, animals were fed on the atherogenic diet for 10 weeks, transferred to diets containing either coconut oil (150 g/kg diet) or olive oil (150 g/kg diet) without added cholesterol and monitored for up to 16 weeks. In the ascending aorta, lesion size doubled in animals fed on coconut oil but stabilized in those fed on olive oil. In the aortic arch, lesion size decreased linearly (P < 0.05, P < 0.001 for coconut oil and olive oil respectively) with the greatest reduction being seen in the olive-oil-fed animals (P < 0.05). Again, progression and regression of atherosclerosis appeared to reflect the relative concentrations of LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol in the plasma. We conclude that the male Golden Syrian hamster represents a useful model of dietary induced regression as well as progression of atherosclerosis.
Coconut oil is rich in lauric C12:0 (50%) and C14:0 SFAs which both raise cholesterol levels according to the peer review science. So are you still recommending it? Mercola.com actually advocates both coconut and fish/krill oils. At least PUFAs may be a good chemotherapy for advanced cancers but I wonder about the real safety of the coconut oil. It seems to me that the best choice would be something like olive or palm oil (oleic acid)?
And another question - which is more evil, PUFAs or trans fats? The trans fat (shortening, margarine) scare is actually what brought me to the deliberate consumption of PUFAs at the first place (hoped to remove the accumulated trans fats from my body by flax seed oil and later fish oil).
Thanks for any advice and further input,
Taka
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