MCWtrainer

There's a class of hormone-like subastances caled prostaglandins in the body that are derived fro messential fatty acids. Certain prostaglandins are beneficial for health and disease prevention, while others are part of the body's reaction to stress or injury.

There are three classes (or series) of prostaglandins. Series 1 prostaglandins, particularly PGE1, have many beneficial effects for athletes: they appear to have anabolic effects, promote thermogenessi, increase sodium and water clearance by the kidneys, and prevent blood clots. Series 2 prostaglandins have the opposite effects. They seem to trigger the release of energy substrates by breaking down structural protein, causing salt and water retention, and promoting the clotting of blood. They are useful in a fight-or-flight stress situation, when your body reacts to ensure your short-term survival by elevating your blood pressure and making energy more available.

Both series 1 and 2 prostaglandins are derived from the same precursor, linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid), while that last class, series 3 prostaglandins are important not for their actions but rather for their ability to decrase the rate at which series 2 prostaglandins are formed.

So, series 1 prostaglandins promote performance, series 2 prostaglandins disrupt performance, and series 3 prostaglandins block the formation of series 2 prostaglandins. The idea is to consume EFAs that help promote series 1 and 3 prostaglandins.

Because prostaglandins are not true hormones, they're only active in or near the cell where they're generated. True hormones move throughout the body to reach distant target organs or tissues. The downside to the local-action-only feature is that prostaglandins aren't orally bioavailable--unless you take them in huge amounts--and can only be administered intravenouly. The upside is that you can take the precursors--the essential fatty acids--and still give your body the building blocks necessary to form the good prostaglandins naturally.

I hope this answers some of the questions as to why we always recommend that everyone take EFAs in with their daily supps.


More info...

http://www.andrews.edu/NUFS/essentialfat.htm


Omega-3 Fatty Acids...

http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshel...25,992,00.html

http://www.annecollins.com/dietary-f...3-fat-efas.htm

EFA Info...

http://www.healingwithnutrition.com/efa.html

http://www.positivehealth.com/permit...ncer/good6.htm

http://www.udoerasmus.com/FAQ.htm

http://waltonfeed.com/omega/get.html

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/labt...fatty_acid.htm

http://huhs.harvard.edu/ClinicalServ...entialFats.htm

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk...ing/omega3.htm

Info on EFAs for pregnant and/or nursing women...

http://www.mercola.com/beef/omega3.htm

If anyone has more information on this topic to post feel free to add it. We could make this one big thread so that people don't need to do more than 1 search to answer their questions...

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