Masterjohn Essential Fatty Acids are Essential

[cremes]

I read the whole thing without falling asleep. Here are my main takeaways:

* infants and juveniles need more omega3/omega6 fats during development; however, once you reach maturity your need for them falls way off

* as an adult, you effectively do not need any EFAs but there is no strong reason to studiously ignore them; you'll get sufficient PUFA from beef (5%) and lamb (10% but a higher omega3/omega6 ratio) to satisfy any need your body has for brain, eye, or other maintenance requiring those fatty acids

 

[Dr. B]

I attempted to wade through the minutiae there in Masterjohn's argument, but I admit I cannot make heads or tails of the reasoning here as it seems to be bogged down in technical jargon (but my hat is off to you if you read that entire article word for word without wanting to fall asleep), and especially his closing recommendation of a weekly serving of fatty fish for "Omega 3 reserves". Particularly since my impression is the body is able to synthesize these fats naturally, the idea of there needing to be a "reserve" of something here seems oxymoronic.

I believe part of the reason they are called essential is that the body cannot synthesize them. Of course, observing a certain amount of these ubiquitous fats in human tissues doesn't prove their essentiality. What would prove it is an experiment where serious issues arise if humans are deprived of these fats.

But the problem is milk even fully grass fed contains wtound 3g pufa per 100g total fat.
The other concern is the pufa deficient animals I believe developed some sort of skin problems and other issues? Which were resolved upon adding in zinc and b6? The problem is b6 increases production of arachidonic acid or something doesnt it.
And zinc could just be lowering the metabolism or have some sort of anti metabolic effect like the pufa, in itself...?

 

[Dr. B]

I read the whole thing without falling asleep. Here are my main takeaways:

* infants and juveniles need more omega3/omega6 fats during development; however, once you reach maturity your need for them falls way off

* as an adult, you effectively do not need any EFAs but there is no strong reason to studiously ignore them; you'll get sufficient PUFA from beef (5%) and lamb (10% but a higher omega3/omega6 ratio) to satisfy any need your body has for brain, eye, or other maintenance requiring those fatty acids

Are there benefits/requirements to the small amount pufa present in dairy? Would milk be improved if therr was a method to remove the pufa? The animals with pufa deficiency had improved skin condition from either adding in pufa, or supplements of zinc b6

Anti-Peat - Peats comments on EFA, zinc, b6 experiment

Peat mentioned an experiment maybe 100 years back where rats had a skin rash or acne like condition that was cured when given small amounts of EFA (omega 3 and omega 6), or when given b6 and zinc. I was looking into this more last year and the Weston Price website mentioned something about B6...

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