Re: importance of EPA for IR

[Guest guest]

Another good post from the supplements guru, Stan Angilley (from the

low-carbing diabetics' group):

Insulin resistance comes in two flavors, hyperglycemia-induced, and

tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFa)-induced. It is well-known

that EPA (found in fish-oil) suppresses TNFa production; hence the

key sentence in the Abstract:

" We demonstrated that EPA-E prevents the onset of insulin resistance,

whereas olive oil and safflower oil have no effect and lard exacerbates

insulin resistance. "

becomes clearer. ie: EPA stops the development of insulin resistance

by suppressing TNFa, whereas olive and safflower oil are neutral (neither

promoting nor suppressing TNFa production). Lard either promotes TNFa

production or acts through some other mechanism to increase insulin

resistance.

So, the somewhat obliquely-worded sentence can be re-phrased as:

" These findings suggest that in patients with NIDDM, development

of insulin resistance can be modulated by dietary fatty acids. "

ie: Use olive oil in food preparation and take EPA regularly and

insulin-resistance could be stopped or prevented from starting;

or, use lard and risk the induction of insulin-resistance.

Note that one always needs to be wary about anthropomorphizing experiments

with rats, like the study authors " suggested " .