Page 19 - Fall2010

THE DISCOVERY OF THE of the day. Since the discovery in 1845 that pigs By the 1920s,
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS are capable of synthesizing fat from carbohydrate,
George Burr had conducted his doctoral re- researchers believed that neither fats nor the fatty most
search in the deserts of Arizona and Utah, studying acids of which they are composed were essential researchers
the effects of soil chemistry and climate on the nutrients. By the 1920s, most researchers believed
5
distribution of plants and the quality of their sap. In that the only function of fats was to store excess believed that
September of 1924, having just finished this work, energy and to carry fat-soluble vitamins. In 1920, the only
he left for the University of California, Berkeley, to Osborne and Mendel showed that rats consuming
study vitamin E with Herbert Evans, who had re- a diet containing only 0.3 percent fat consumed function of
cently discovered the vitamin with Katherine Scott more food and grew more vigorously than rats on fats was to
Bishop. The trip was serendipitous. Within a year, a standard diet and concluded that “if true fats are
Burr married Mildred Lawson, the stock-keeper of essential for nutrition during growth the minimum store excess
Evans’ rats. Bishop and Evans were having trouble necessary must be exceedingly small.” The diets energy and to
6
reproducing their vitamin E-deficient diet, and Burr were made of meat residue and purified starch and
helped them develop a highly purified diet using contained brewer’s yeast and alfalfa as sources of carry
casein and sucrose. This diet, however, produced vitamins. Now that we are in the midst of an obe- fat-soluble
a deficiency that vitamin E could not cure. Evans sity epidemic, we may look back on this paper and
thought they discovered a new vitamin, but Burr suggest that it showed an advantage of including vitamins.
thought they discovered the essentiality of certain some fat in the diet in order to properly regulate
fats. In 1928, Burr left Berkeley for the University appetite. Its significance at the time, however, was
of Minnesota, where he was invited to continue his to show that fat-soluble vitamins are required for
nutrition research as a professor of plant physiol- growth but that fat itself is not.
ogy. He left having discovered nothing of great The diet the Burrs used to produce essential
importance about vitamin E, but having gained a fatty acid deficiency was very different from the
life partner and having fortuitously stumbled upon diet Osborne and Mendel used. The Burrs purified
a new deficiency disease to research. casein through repeated rounds of precipitation and
1
The possibility that certain dietary fats might purified sugar through repeated rounds of crystal-
be essential contradicted the conventional wisdom lization. They used yeast to supply B vitamins, a

SUMMARy: UNDERSTANDING THE ESSENTIAL FATTy ACIDS

• The primary essential fatty acids are the omega-6 arachidonic acid and the omega-3 DHA.
• Arachidonic acid is found in liver, egg yolks, and other fats from land animals, and in small amounts in seafood. DHA
is found in cod liver oil, fatty fish, and in smaller amounts in the organs and fats of land animals.
• Symptoms of arachidonic acid deficiency include dry, scaly and itchy skin, hair loss, dandruff, reproductive difficulties,
gastrointestinal disturbances, and food intolerances. Symptoms of DHA deficiency include numbness, tingling, weak-
ness, pain, psychological disturbances, poor cognitive function, difficulty learning, and poor visual acuity. Deficiencies
of both fatty acids contribute to poor growth, poor immunity, and inflammation.
• The requirement for essential fatty acids is likely to be well below 0.1 percent of calories on a diet that is devoid of
refined sugar and rancid vegetable oils, low in polyunsaturated vegetable oils, adequate in protein and total energy,
and rich in vitamin B , biotin, calcium, magnesium, and fresh, whole foods abundant in natural antioxidants.
6
• The requirement for essential fatty acids is lowest in healthy adults and highest in infants and growing children, pregnant
and lactating women, bodybuilders, people recovering from injury, and people with chronic disease. Alcoholism, dia-
betes, insulin resistance, certain genetic variations, and strict vegetarianism may make someone more likely to become
deficient. Additional liver, egg yolks, and cod liver oil can be used to correct deficiencies.
• Excess linoleic acid from vegetable oils can cause a deficiency in DHA. An excess of the omega-3 fatty acid EPA from
fish and cod liver oil can cause a deficiency in arachidonic acid. For this reason, cod liver oil should be used in mod-
eration and in combination with a diet rich in egg yolks and organ meats.
• Essential fatty acids are vulnerable to a process called oxidation, which can cause cellular damage.
• Replacing traditional animal fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils may increase the risk of heart disease, cancer and
total mortality.
• One gram per day of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil reduces cardiovascular mortality in patients with chronic heart
failure or who have recently had a heart attack. However, fish oil may increase cardiovascular and total mortality,
especially when used for more than four years in combination with a standard modern diet.
• The liberal use of organ meats and egg yolks combined with small amounts of cod liver oil renders the essential fatty
acids safe and health-promoting.

FALL 2010 Wise Traditions 19