Weston price pufa article

Dr. B

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@haidut @Mito @Hans or has anyone addressed the points in this article? Precious Yet Perilous - The Weston A. Price Foundation

I remember reading Peat talking about PUFA and how the burrs experiments failed to take into account the rats with skin issues from low pufa, actually just needed more zinc and vitamin b6 due to their higher metabolic rate.

However I was thinking, why would a higher metabolic rate only require more b6 and zinc? a higher metabolic rate should increase all nutrient needs, to proportionally the same levels as well. so youd need proportionally more zinc, iron, copper, b6, b1, etc.

the weston price article claims several times that b6 consumption actually increases linoleic acid conversion into arachidonic acid and that is why supplementing or higher intakes of b6 reduce "essential fatty acid requirements". this is a point I hadnt seen Peat bring up before. it seems b6 isnt actually needed because of the higher metabolic rate but rather that it is increasing arachidonic acid production by the body thus reducing need for dietary pufa/AA? if this is the case, and if PUFA even in small amounts are to be avoided, then shouldnt b6 supplementation also be minimized, and even dietary b6 intake minimized? oddly enough, b6 is one nutrient which it is difficult to get the "RDA" of 2mg, from food. orange juice, milk, liver, have some b6 but youd need significant amounts to reach the rda of 2mg per day.

the weston price people also seem to claim that pufa in general arent needed or helpful but that small amounts of DHA and arachidonic acid are needed. they dislike EPA and most pufa. this would fall in line with a meat/milk based diet since I think those are the types of pufa present in beef and dairy.

these are some other interesting quotes from that article...

"Vitamin B6 alone resolved the deficiency in later experiments by dramatically increasing the synthesis of arachidonic acid from linoleic acid stored in the tissues.19 Diets low in refined sugar and rancid vegetable oils, adequate in protein and total energy, and rich in vitamin B6, biotin, magnesium, and whole, fresh foods abundant in natural antioxidants are likely to reduce the essential fatty acid requirement to such a degree that it is impossible for a healthy, growing child under ordinary circumstances to develop a deficiency.

could not find even a trace of EPA unless they had first induced essential fatty acid deficiency and all its related tissue damage.32 Several years later Holman conducted a study with another colleague showing that ALA aggravated essential fatty acid deficiency; if they gave the animals vitamin B6, however, the rats converted ALA to DHA rather than to EPA and the aggravating effect disappeared.19 More recent studies in humans have provided preliminary evidence suggesting that EPA interferes with growth in infants and immune function in adults, while DHA improves both growth and immune function.53-54

A diet that excludes refined sugar and rancid vegetable oil, is low in total PUFA content, is adequate in protein and total energy, and is rich in vitamin B6, biotin, calcium, magnesium, and fresh, whole foods abundant in natural antioxidants should not carry any risk of arachidonic acid deficiency when moderate amounts of EPA are consumed. Liberal amounts of egg yolks and liver providing preformed arachidonic acid would provide extra insurance against damage by EPA. Under these conditions, it would be safe to consume cod liver oil—valuable for its abundant provision of DHA, vitamin A and vitamin D—in spite of its EPA content.

The requirement for essential fatty acids is likely to be well below 0.1 percent of calories on a diet that is devoid of refined sugar and rancid vegetable oils, low in polyunsaturated vegetable oils, adequate in protein and total energy, and rich in vitamin B6, biotin, calcium, magnesium, and fresh, whole foods abundant in natural antioxidants.

The Burrs showed that the requirement was only 0.4 percent of calories when they used lard to cure the disease in growing rats and that the requirement was only 0.1 percent of calories when they used liver to cure it.7 Liver probably proved more effective than lard both because it is much richer in arachidonic acid and because it is rich in vitamin B6, which greatly enhances the conversion of linoleic acid to arachidonic acid.19

Reducing refined sugar in the diet is therefore likely to sharply reduce the essential fatty acid requirement. A number of other factors may reduce this requirement as well, including biotin, vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, avoidance of rancid vegetable oil, sufficient intake of protein and total energy, and a diet rich in fresh, whole foods abundant in natural antioxidants.31
 

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