The power of GLA Part 1

Immune Weakness
Viral infections have a penchant for blocking the body’s ability to make GLA. The resulting GLA shortage greatly impairs our immune defences. For people with chronic fatigue (or postviral) syndrome, GLA along with EPA brings about clinically measurable improvements.

High Cholesterol
For nearly two decades, patients at the Atkins Center have been reducing their cholesterol levels by taking GLA, among other supplements. Lipid profiles improve or worsen directly with a corresponding increase or decrease of the GLA dosage. (The benefit is even more pronounced when EPA is added.) This success is predictable, and I see the results every day. The fatty acid’s conversion into PGE, is the reason for this benefit. In cells that lose the ability to synthesize the prostaglandin, cholesterol production becomes uncontrollable.

Taking 400 mg of GLA daily for twelve weeks sufficiently restores the body’s PGE1 stores and significantly lowers cholesterol.

Cancer
Extremely large amounts of GLA have tripled life expectancy for people with terminal pancreatic cancer, according to research cited by Horrobin.

Arthritis
The fatty add’s best-documented role is the amelioration of inflammatory conditions, principally arthritis. After taking a daily 10 gram dose of borage oil (providing 800 mg of GLA) for twelve weeks, members of an arthritis study group enjoyed an increase in joint mobility and a reduction in morning stiffness. Their sleep patterns improved, too, while side effects were minimal. Other studies corroborate these results, although at a far higher dosage – typically about 1.4 grams of GLA. Taking that amount enabled rheumatoid arthritis patients in a pair of University of Massachusetts studies to reduce assess-ments of joint swelling and tenderness by more than 40 per cent over their placebo-using counterparts.

Multiple Sclerosis
Not everyone afflicted with MS responds to GLA. However for the 40 per cent or so who do, it is frequently one of their most valuable treatments. GLA doses from 500 to 1,000 mg slow or even halt the progress of the disease in those who respond. The other essential oils, such as EPA and flaxseed oil, are also necessary to get maximum benefit, I’ve discovered, as is the stria avoidance of fried foods and anything made with or cooked in trans-fatty acids.

PMS

Virtually every practitioner of complementary medicine offers GLA to women bothered by premenstrual tension. The treatment is nothing short of remarkable. Some published work does substantiate the treatment, usually at a daily dosage of 300 mg. Levels of the fatty asid are greatly reduced in women with PMS, probably because of an impaired ability to manufacture GLA. Iritability cramps and breast tenderness often are eliminated on GTA therapy after three months.

Diabetic Complications
Science has established rather conclusively that GLA halts the otherwise inevitable advance of never damage caused by diabetes. GLA helps the nerves to heal. As one study of 111 patients showed, people with either diabetes, Type I or Type II, can benefit, using a dose as 480 mg of GLA (from evening primrose oil) per day. Other research suggests that the fatty acid may even prevent the deterioration from starting up.

Some kind of abnormality in fatty acid metabolism is very likely involved in the development of diabetic complications and maybe even the development of diabetes itself. People who have the disease seem unable to make GLA from dietary fats and therefore may suffer from an insufficiency of PGE. Coincidentally enough, this substance can potentiate the work of insulin and exerts insulinlike actions of its own. Therefore diabetics need all the PGE that GLA can help them make.