Let’s summarize what we’ve talked regarding so far. The fats we use as food include omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Both are essential nutrients for our life and health, but our current diet is too common in omega-6 fatty acids and too deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. As a result, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in our body is higher than 20:1. Since our unbalanced bodies are exposed to diseases that harm our health, we must diligently seek out and consume omega-3 fatty acids to correct the fatty acid balance to close to 1:1.
Today, we will look at the biochemical structure that takes place in the body to support this content.
There is a fatty acid in our body called Arachidonic acid, or AA for short. This fatty acid is the representative of omega-6 fatty acids in our body. It is an unsaturated fatty acid with 4 unsaturated double links starting at the 6th carbon from the end of the 20-carbon chain. We denote it as 20:4 ω-6 for short. These AAs become precursors for conversion to eicosanoid hormones. This hormone governs inflammatory processes in our body. Do you know what inflammation is? When we get a big or small wound inside or outside the body, the body immediately triggers an immune response. For example, let’s say you get a splinter on your finger. First, there is a fever at the wound site. The second is pain, the third is swelling. The fourth time, it was red and bloody. All of these signals are symptoms of inflammation. The conversion of omega-6 fatty acids AA into hormones is involved in this entire process of inflammation. All diseases are accompanied by an inflammatory response. So when you get sick, you experience pain, so it is expressed as “I get sick when I get sick.” It is not accepted at first glance that the source of pain is because of the oil we eat. Unfortunately, this is true. When one part of the body is injured, an enzyme called COX-2 is immediately activated in our body, and omega-6 fatty acids AA are converted into eicosanoid hormones. This hormone causes inflammation in the wound and amplifies pain signals that are transmitted to the brain. Our body then feels the pain. Another function of this hormone is to thicken the blood by aggregating platelets in the blood, which is a risk factor for brain hemorrhage and heart disease.
We take aspirin when we have a cold or a headache. Have you ever experienced fever and pain disappearing soon following taking it? This is because aspirin inhibits the COX-2 enzyme. This blocks the pathway through which AA is converted into hormones. As a result, the means by which pain signals are transmitted to the brain is lost. Miraculously, the headache goes away. At this time, aspirin also has the effect of thinning the blood to prevent clotting or blood clots. Doctors in hospitals often recommend taking aspirin because they believe that aspirin can thin the blood and prevent heart disease. However, taking large amounts of aspirin for too long can cause the blood to lose its ability to clot, putting you at risk of bleeding. That is why aspirin is contraindicated for patients preparing for surgery in hospitals.
What will happen if the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in our body drops below 1:4? It means that our body has enough fatty acids called EPA, which represent omega-3 fatty acids. EPA means that there are 5 unsaturated double links in a 20-carbon chain starting at the third carbon from the end, and is indicated in research literature and food labels as EPA or 20:5 ω-3. COX-2, which makes fatty acids into hormones, prefers the omega-3 fatty acid EPA to the omega-6 AA. So, when omega-3 EPA is made into a hormone, curiously, it doesn’t amplify the pain signal during the inflammatory response. On the contrary, it relieves pain. It also lowers the viscosity of blood. It prevents blood clots and eventually lowers the risk of heart disease. That’s why omega fatty acids are good for preventing heart disease.
Well, now you may be wondering why you need to diligently seek out and consume omega-3 fatty acids. We need to get our bodies to make hormones with EPA instead of AA. The lower the ratio of AA to EPA, the more the COX-2 enzyme prefers EPA. Competitive inhibition of omega-3 fatty acids increases, and when EPA becomes a hormone, AA produces a neutralizing effect of reducing blood viscosity, which is a risk factor for heart disease and pain as a symptom of inflammation.
Just as there is a balance between yin and yang in the universe, there are yin and yang principles in the food we consume, which complement each other, control each other, and control our lives and health. In our traditional oriental medicine, it is said that health is maintained when the qi of yin and yang are harmonized through mutual control. When the balance of yin and yang is disturbed, disease occurs. Acupuncture is the medical art of balancing this yin and yang. The relationship between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids that you have been studying is similar to this. The two complement each other, keep in check, and maintain a balanced and healthy body.
Numerous scholars have made efforts to discover this omega-3 fatty acid, which is indispensable to our food culture today. After the first known regarding essential fatty acids around 1929, the furostaglandin hormone was first discovered by Dr. Raphael around 1930, confirmed by Dr. Von Euler in 1935, and around 1964 by Swedish biochemists Dr. Bergstrom and Dr. Samuelsson, AA fatty acids In 1971, British physiologist Dr. Vane identified chemical evidence that aspirin blocks the conversion of AA into prostaglandin hormones by interfering with the enzyme COX-2. Although it may seem easy and simple in words, it was a feat of modern medicine and a great discovery that changed the flow of medicine. For reference, this research has produced a total of six Nobel laureates in various fields. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7) “Let us not be foolish and forsake knowledge. (Hosea 4:6).
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