Re: Omega3/6 ratios

the more double bonds in the fatty acid that is more susceptible to damage.

Excerpt: "Peroxidation (auto-oxidation) of lipids exposed to oxygen is responsible not only for deterioration of foods (rancidity) but also for damage to tissues in vivo, where it may be a cause of cancer, inflammatory diseases, atherosclerosis, and aging. The deleterious effects are considered to be caused by free radicals (ROO, RO, OH) produced during peroxide formation from fatty acids containing methylene-interrupted double bonds, ie, those found in the naturally occurring polyunsaturated fatty acids (Figure 15–21). Lipid peroxidation is a chain reaction providing a continuous supply of free radicals that initiate further peroxidation and thus has potentially devastating effects. The whole process can be depicted as follows:..."
http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5226799



Polyunsaturated fatty acids are more vulnerable to free radical oxidation than any other macromolecules in the body and the sensitivity to free radical damage increases exponentially with the number of double bonds.

Hummingbirds use thousands of calories in a day (more than most humans) and have relatively long lifespans (the broad-tailed hummingbird Selasphorus platycerus reportedly has a maximum lifespan in excess of 8 years). Birds have more saturated lipid (and therefore reduced oxidizability) in their mitochondrial membranes and have higher levels of small-molecule antioxidants, such as ascorbate and uric acid.

The damage to cellular proteins, lipids and DNA throughout the cell from free- radicals generated by mitochondria has also been implicated as a cause of aging. If fatty acids entering mitochondria for energy-yielding oxidation have been peroxidized in the blood, this places an additional burden on antioxidant defenses. The greatest damage occurs in the mitochondria themselves, including damage to the respiratory chain protein complexes (leading to higher levels of superoxide production), damage to the mitochondrial membrane (leading to membrane leakage of calcium ions and other substances) and damage to mitochondrial DNA (leading to further damage to mitochondrial protein complexes). Improvement of mitochondrial encoded protein synthesis fidelity in yeast demonstrated a 27% increase in mean life span

ect.

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