A few additional points I didn't have room to cover in my PUFA thread yesterday:
This is a fantastic study that covers the differences in oil oxidation during frying, and how it's affected by other factors beyond just oil type sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
A few key points:
- food included in oil during frying often makes it more resistant to oxidation (for example this has been observed with potatoes)
- oils high in phenols like olive oil or black seed oil are the most resistant to oxidation
- vitamin E content of certain oils may play more of a role in how prone they are to oxidation than PUFA content
- the presence of certain metals (such as iron) around the oils, such as in pans, fryers, or perhaps even food may increase oxidation
I found this last point especially interesting as it ties in with the issues I've spoken about with iron as a source of oxidative stress
There may be good to use a more stable oil such as olive oil when cooking high iron foods like red meat if you want to minimize oxidation
It originally looked very promising as a treatment for heart disease, but over the past few decades it hasn't panned out despite extensive research ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
My theory is because in most individuals niacin raises HDL too much, putting it above the optimal range and actually increasing mortality
In theory, individuals with low HDL may still benefit by using niacin to put it back into this range
That said even in individuals with normal HDL niacin still does not increase heart disease, in the vast majority of cases it just has no effect, so there's no harm in taking it
Niacin is especially potent at increasing neuroplasticity, so there are many other mental benefits
Interestingly, the reduction in heart disease seen with many statins in clinical trials may stem as much from their anti-inflammatory effects as their reduction in cholesterol synthesis, this study found positive effects even in those with normal LDL nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
More and more studies suggest that reducing inflammation is an important exis of heart disease prevention, similar to lipid markers nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
Dissociation in depression and other mental illness is usually a result of excess glutamate activity, which triggers the release of inhibitory compounds like dynorphin/KYNA to protect the brain
They block dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, limiting cognitive function
Dynorphin is actually in the endorphin class
It still relieves pain, but causes strong dysphoria, they've tried to create "non-addictive" pain meds that activate its receptor (the KOR) but most are rarely used as they often cause depressive symptoms
Dynorphin is also associated with trauma/PTSD especially
Since it blocks pain signaling while causing dysphoria, it disconnects the person from the traumatic experience
This again serves to prevent neurotoxic over-activation of neurons, another way the brain protects itself
I could take another zoomed in comparison like this and make the case that fat intake causes obesity, despite the fact that it doesn't inherently either
Graphs like these just arbitrarily connect effects of modernization with modern diseases, they're very weak evidence forms
Obesity is caused by taking in more energy than the body can metabolize
Metabolism can be affected by hormone status, circadian rhythm, muscle mass, etc, so these factors can reduce energy demand but caloric surplus is still the root cause
There's a lot of debate on PUFA, so I decided to dive into the research with an open mind and see if I can clarify a few things
In this thread I'll be looking at human data on PUFA and inflammation, oil oxidation timelines, and my own views on the subject
THREAD //
First off, many claim that both omega-3 and omega-6 fats are inherently inflammatory for a few different reasons
The most common explanations for this are that the oils are oxidized outside the body, that the oils oxidize in the body, and that they cause inflammation unoxidized
This meta-analysis looks at whether the omega-6 fats are inherently inflammatory in humans
They found that increasing dietary omega-6 does not increase inflammatory markers, and in fact many sources of these fats are anti-inflammatory pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29610056/
Cytochromes I, II, and IV, in the electron transport chain all act as chromophores for different parts of the sunlight spectrum
Interestingly the odd protein out, cytochrome III, does not seem to act as a traditional proton pump but rather through electromagnetic proton transfer
Mitochondria evolved as individual cells, so they still show some components of this like harnessing their light environment to drive extra ATP production
The mechanism that is still most relevant today is cytochrome IV, as it responds to infrared light
As I've mentioned before, infrared light penetrates into 60-100% of cells in the human body with full body sun exposure