GREAT Will Brink article on Arachidonic Acid

mr.cooper69

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While a nice article, I think there are two fundamental points to how ArA can be bad for you:

1. You must remember ArA is first and foremost the precursor fatty acid to innumerable eicosanoids with varied roles in the body. Some of these eicosanoids may reduce inflammation; others may increase it. What determines what ArA gets metabolized to is your overall metabolic state. For a basic example, if you are facing a typical bacterial infection, ArA's pathways towards PGE2, PGD2, and PGI2 are induced. This causes fever, vasodilation, pain, and vascular leak. LTB4, LTC4, and LTD4 will also be induced, causing bronchoconstriction, neutrophil chemotaxis, and more vascular leak. A similar picture with leukotrienes is seen with asthma.

So the point is this: if your body is in a state that predisposes to production of "negatively acting" eicosanoids, ArA is indeed bad for you. If you're otherwise healthy, there's no reason to believe aberrant cytokine pathways will suddenly be induced by increasing phospholipid membrane ArA content.

2. The article makes a nice point of balancing fatty acids. Those with the greatest health benefits had high levels of EPA+ DHA and ArA. Balance the counter-regulatory pathways for optimal health.
 
paula

paula

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Mr cooper if a person had a psoriasis, tasking ArA is prohibited?
 

mr.cooper69

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Psoriasis is more dependent on interleukins than prostaglandins, but I'd still stay away as ArA is acting downstream of many of these signaling molecules
 

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