Vegan n-3 fatty acid DHA/

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Purified DHA is available from a fungal source through a

company called Martek labs, and you can order direct from them.

originally pointed us toward the work of Dr

Freedman, who has studied a mouse model of PSC. He

is doing clinical trials in humans with the omega-3 fatty

acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), one of the two omega-3s in

fish oil. Martek's efforts to encourage food companies to

use their product " Life's DHA " has been covered in several

news articles. Dr Freedman found that DHA, but not EPA, the

other omega-3 in fish oil, is effective in preventing PSC in

this mouse model, and he told me that he suspects EPA may compete

for uptake with DHA, the point being you may be better off with

DHA than with both DHA and EPA in any case, so you can have your

principles and your omega-3's too.

I've finally emerged from the small mountain of lab reports. It's

exciting to see all the news (Go Barby!! Go !!), a flaming

debate, etc.

Below is the abstract of one of Dr Freedman's papers. Full-text

is freely available from the journal:

http://ajpgi.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/287/2/G491.

ANY biomedical abstract is ALWAYS freely available at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/PubMed

There is a more recent paper extending the findings over

a longer time scale.

Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2004 Aug;287(2):G491-6.

Induction of colitis in cftr-/- mice results in bile duct injury.

Blanco PG, Zaman MM, Junaidi O, Sheth S, Yantiss RK, Nasser IA,

Freedman SD.

It is unknown why some patients with inflammatory bowel disease

develop primary sclerosing cholangitis. We have recently shown that

patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis have an increased

prevalence of mutations in the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis

(CFTR) compared with individuals with inflammatory bowel disease

alone. Our aim was to examine whether induction of colitis by oral

dextran leads to bile duct injury in mice heterozygous or homozygous

for mutations in CFTR. The effect of oral administration of

docosahexaenoic acid to correct a fatty acid imbalance associated with

cystic fibrosis was also examined to determine whether this would

prevent bile duct inflammation. Wild-type mice and mice heterozygous

and homozygous for CFTR mutations were given dextran orally for 14

days to induce colitis. Bile duct injury was quantitated by blinded

histological scoring and measurement of serum alkaline phosphatase

activity. The effect of pretreatment with docosahexaenoic acid for 7

days was examined. Treatment of mice with 100 mg dextran/day for 9

days followed by 85 mg/day for 5 days resulted in a significant

increase in bile duct injury as determined by histological scoring in

homozygous cystic fibrosis mice compared with wild-type mice (P =

0.005). The bile duct injury seen in cystic fibrosis mice was

reflected in a threefold increase in serum alkaline phosphatase (P =

0.0006). Pretreatment with oral docosahexaenoic acid decreased both

histological evidence of bile duct injury and serum alkaline

phosphatase levels. In the setting of colitis, loss of CFTR function

leads to bile duct injury.

Martha (MA)

UC 1979, PSC 1992, still asymptomatic

Wishing you all happy holidays. I've got over a foot of snow on the

ground in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. I'm ready for the sun to

come back.