Atherosclerosis: A Lesson in Lesions

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Interesting article from the Linus ing Institute:

http://www.orst.edu/dept/lpi/sp-su97/athero.html

" Regular consumption of another common component of the Mediterranean diet,

olive oil, has been shown to significantly

protect LDL particles from free-radical induced oxidation, possibly because of

the substitution of the oleic acid in

olive oil for other fatty acids in LDL.

The double bond in fatty acids is the primary target for free-radical attack.

Olive oil is monounsaturated, i.e. it has a single double bond, and provides

little opportunity for attack by free

radicals, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as sunflower oil, provide

more targets for free-radical attack

because of their double bonds in long hydrophobic chains.

Oxidation of fatty acids by free radicals is the first essential step in the

oxidative modification of LDL. "

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Too bad they didn't go the next step and state that as saturated fatty acids

have NO double bonds they are even less

likely to be oxidized by free radicals and thus reduce formation of oxidized

LDL, than the one double bond

monounsaturated fatty acids

Fatty acid oxidation risk relative to sat fats:

1) 0 double bond sat fats = 0

2) 1 double bond mono fats = 50

3) 2 double bond omega 6 LA = 90

4) 3 double bond omega 3 LNA = 130

5) 4 double bond omega 6 AA = 170

6) 5 double bond omega 3 EPA = 210

7) 6 double bond omega 3 DHA = 250

Source:

http://www.usc.edu/hsc/pharmacy/ced/dietchol/impact.htm

" Intake of foods and/or supplements with antioxidant vitamins and its impact on

CHD

The tendency of unsaturated lipids to undergo oxidation is related to the number

of double bonds in the fatty acid

molecule.

Each additional double bond after the initial double bond found in

monounsaturated fatty acids increases susceptibility

to peroxidation by forty fold while a fatty acid with one double bond is about

fifty times more susceptible to

peroxidation than a saturated fatty acid.

Hence, a fatty acid with three double bonds is oxidized eighty times as readily

as a fatty acid with only one double

bond. "

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Good Health & Long Life,

Greg , http://optimalhealth.cia.com.au gowatson@...

USDA database (food breakdown) http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/

PubMed (research papers) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

DWIDP (nutrient analysis) http://www.walford.com/dwdemo/dw2b63demo.exe

Patch file for above http://www.walford.com/download/dwidp67u.exe

KIM (omega analysis) http://ods.od.nih.gov/eicosanoids/KIM_Install.exe