GAMMA-LINOLENIC ACID: The good omega-6 fat

Without any doubt, the typical Western diet’s lopsided overconsumption of omega-6 fats is a significant cause of premature aging and our almost epidemic rates of arthritis, cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Yet the members of this fatty acid class remain essential to our good health and even to life itself. Only the omega-6s can convert themselves into gamma- linolenic acid (GLA), which while not technically an essential fatty acid is an essential nutrient for all practical purposes. Without it we could not manufacture the eicosanoid superstar, prostaglandin Er PGE1, as it’s known for short, is one of the body’s greatest natural therapies for fending off premature aging, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases, among other disorders.

Obviously there must be a hitch somewhere. How can an excess of omega-6 oils correspond with a higher risk of certain diseases, while a fatty acid derived from the omega-6s provides therapeutic assistance against the very same health problems? There is a rub, and it goes by the name of delta-6-desaturase (D6D). Without this enzyme, omega-6s won’t transform themselves into GLA. Many of us do, in fact, lack a sufficient amount of D6D. We lose it as we grow older and suppress it if we consume a lot of sugar, alcohol, margarine or other partially hydrogenated oils. Certain saturated fats also may lower its activity. Additionally, the loss of this enzyme may be caused or exacerbated by diabetes, hypothyroidism, a viral infection or cancer. The enzyme is made with the help of vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B3, zinc and magnesium; a low amountof any of these nutrients will decrease the amount of D6D the body makes. The great majority of us fall into one of these D6D -robbing categories, and 100 per cent of us could probably use more of its valuable end product: GLA.

A DEPENDABLE SUCCESS

One of my life’s most rewarding insights into nutritional medicine came some fifteen years ago at a weekend seminar conducted by the world’s foremost authority on GLA, Dr David Horrobin. Under his aegis, many well-performed double-blind studies have been done to demonstrate GLA’s clinical uses. To my chagrin and surprise, though, mainstream medicine has been uninterested in replicating or even challenging Horrobin’s work. This is especially bewildering because fish oils, which play a parallel role, have been thoroughly studied and widely accepted. What I can relate, then, comes primarily from a body of published research that is not as well replicated as it deserves to be, and from my own experience. The inescapable conclusion is that GLA is ready for use as a mainstream therapy.