Tag: Carnitine

Confusion about Omega-6

Claus Hancke

February 6, 2007

Confusion regarding the essential fatty acids is the rule rather than the exception while research regarding their good effects piles up. It’s hard to find head or tail in this subject, but the quick answer is: Eat more fish!

If you want to delve into the depths of this answer, then fasten your safety belt and read on!

There is general agreement that omega-3 fatty acids have a high health value in all of their sources, from linseed oils alpha-linolenic acid to fish’s docosahexaenoic acid and prostaglandin E3.

Is this true about the omega-6 fatty acids?

There is common confusion about the health benefits of essential fatty acids, and this has not been reduced by recent public warnings against the use of polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids.

Let’s look into this:

The most common misconception is that it is possible to generalize about all omega-6 fatty acids. It is not. In the industrialized world the problem is that we are inundated with cheap linoleic acid, which is an omega-6 fatty acid that is found in e.g. corn and sunflower oil. Linoleic acid alone is not that healthy either. If you eat too much of it, you build up deposits of NEFA (which has nothing to do with bicycle lights!) but means that linoleic acid builds up as a non-esterized fat, which can lead to sudden cardiac arrest (1).
The ratio between our consumption of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids should be close to 2:1, but unfortunately it is closer to 20:1. The problem with linoleic acid is that we get too much of it because it is cheap.

Linoleic acid must be converted to gamma linolenic acid (GLA), followed by DGLA and prostaglandin E1, before we have the equivalent of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The first conversion (to GLA) requires an enzyme called delta-6-desaturase. There are many people this enzyme. These people are primarily people with allergies and people with diabetes. When you lack this enzyme the only way to avoid getting too much linoleic acid is to take supplementary GLA. GLA is found in evening primrose oil or borage seed oil.

If you do not lack delta-6-desaturase, the best thing to do is to limit linoleic oil intake and increase fish oil consumption.

If we eat fatty fish and fish oil we save more of the enzyme needed to convert linoleic acid to GLA. Therefore, if we balance our linoleic acid consumption with fish oil then we will not suffer as many harmful effects from unconverted omega-6 fatty acid.

Another way of reducing the amount of accumulated linoleic acid is by taking the amino acid L-Carnitine. L-Carnitine functions as a kind of oil pipeline which transports the linoleic acid directly into the cells power plant (the mitochondria), where, with the help of Q10, it is made into energy. This reduces the amount of freely circulating linoleic acid in the blood.

As explained in the above, we should avoid too much linoleic acid, whereas its converted product, GLA, is healthy and good. So the health value of omega-6 fatty acids is dependent on which omega-3 fatty acid is being discussed.

In a large summary article in Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (2), the authors assess a long list of illnesses where GLA has an amazing effect. These include inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. GLA has been shown to be able to inhibit osteonectin, which is a protein connected cancer metastasis. GLA also has been shown to increase nerve impulse speed in diabetics.

Therefore, omega-6 fatty acids cannot be seen as either all bad or all good. This is especially true when comparing GLA with linoleic acid. Supplementation of both fish oil and GLA is a good idea.

By: Vitality Council

References:
1. Circulating Nonesterified Fatty Acid Level as a Predictive Risk Factor for Sudden Death in the Population. Xavier Jouven, MD, PhD; Marie-Aline Charles, MD; Michel Desnos, MD; Pierre Ducimetière, PhD. Circulation. 2001;104:756.
2. Gamma linolenic acid: an antiinflammatory omega-6 fatty acid. Kapoor R, Huang Y-S, Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2006; 7(6): 531-4.

Carnitine, a Stimulant for Heart, Brain, and Muscles

Claus Hancke

May 9, 2005

Carnitine creates energy in aged cells. The message from a new scientific congress is that supplementation of carnitine seems to help against both heart disease, arteriosclerosis, and dementia.

Are your memory failing or are you loosing strength, then perhaps carnitine is the remedy for rescue

Carnitine is an – undeservedly – overlooked dietary supplement that is on its way into the ‘scientific warmth’. A clear signal is that the New York Academy of Sciences dedicate a whole volume of its famous scientific annals to carnitine alone.

Here you can read more than 197 pages from all 18 contributions given at a two-day conference on carnitine held by the academy in March 2004. The contributions are, among other things, about the importance of carnitine for the burning of fat, for the functioning of the muscles and the heart and about its promising role in the fight against a weakened memory.

Carnitine is an essential nutrient that we mainly get from red meat and dairy products. The body only produces small amounts, and vegans in particular are at risk of deficiency. Carnitine is necessary for the mitochondria – the energy factories of the cells – to burn fat. First, it enables fatty acids to enter the mitochondria, then it promotes their combustion, thereby preventing the harmful accumulation of fatty acid residues, while at the same time supplying the cells with energy.

With age, the transfer of fatty acids to the mitochondria slows down. In addition, the mitochondria become less able to get rid of incompletely broken down fatty acids. This leads to their accumulation of free radicals, a main reason why they degenerate. But without mitochondria, there is no life. Degeneration of the mitochondria is a central phenomenon in the aging process.

Anti-Aging
Many therefore believe that carnitine is an extremely obvious ally in the fight against aging. In a summary by Charles Rebouche from Iowa University, it is stated that carnitine supplementation appears to inhibit aging in rats, just as in humans it both combats age-related memory decline and mitigates the deterioration of Alzheimer’s.

That carnitine as a supplement can really replace missing carnitine function is evident from experiences with children who, for genetic reasons, have difficulty transferring carnitine to the mitochondria. Untreated, they develop severe heart and muscle diseases, but with the help of carnitine supplements, children with these rare disorders have survived to more than 30 years of age – and are still doing well.

However, many more people can benefit from Italian studies that have shown that it is possible to limit the damage that occurs to the heart when a blood clot cuts off the blood supply to parts of the heart muscle. Carnitine reduces the deformation of the heart that would otherwise occur, and during long-term treatment, carnitine-treated patients can work longer and harder, and their fitness is better.

This is an extremely exciting result, which is consistent with the finding that patients with intermittent claudication – walking pain due to calcification, and thus narrowing, of the arteries in the legs – improved their performance on a treadmill when they received a supplement of two grams of carnitine daily.

After the congress, experiments have shown that carnitine also helps against the type of diabetic neuropathy that causes pain. In both rats and humans, a significant effect has been found on this neuropathy, which is often a painful companion to undertreated diabetes. The dose was ½-1 gram three times daily.

Nerves, muscles and heart are major consumers of energy. Carnitine supplies energy. When the brain, heart or muscles weaken with age, it seems wise to think about Carnitine.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Salvatore Alesci et al. (Eds.). Carnitine: The Science behind a Conditionally Essential Nutrient. Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences 2005, vol. 1033.

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