THE ROLE OF FATTY ACIDS IN NUTRITION
Restoring and maintaining an optimal fatty acid status is critical
Maintaining a normal status of essential nutrients is critical to support efficiently the metabolism of tissues and organs. The levels of lipids, in particular fatty acids and lipid soluble vitamins in circulatory lipids, reflect to a great extent the quality of the diet. The levels of these nutrients are also sensitive to individual factors (e.g. genetic polymorphism) which are influencing their absorption and metabolism.
The typical fatty acid profile of western diets is characterized by a high level of saturated fatty acids and linoleic acid. These high levels are mainly due to an excess consumption of animal fats and conventional vegetable oils. In this context, the relative contribution of Omega-3 fatty acids to the overall diet is too low to support a normal fatty acid metabolism.
The conjunction of a low level of dietary Omega-3 fatty acids and a relatively high intake of linoleic acid (LA) is leading to an accumulation of arachidonic acid (ARA) in membrane phospholipids and low level of critical Omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA.
Restoring the normal concentration of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in circulatory lipids is possible through nutrition. It can be achieved by controlling the intake of the essential fatty acids linoleic and a-linolenic acids through a careful selection of edible oils as well as the consumption of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and g-linolenic acid (GLA), respectively.
THE OIL BLENDS THAT FIT YOUR PATIENTS' NEEDS
At FREDANISA Laboratoires we are convinced that restoring and maintaining a normal concentration of the fatty acids in circulatory lipids is key to support an healthy living. Starting from the results of the analysis of fatty acid status of your patient, we will analyze its individual characteristics in order to provide you with a dietary recommendation specifically formulated for your patient.
Our products have been developed in collaboration with nutrition experts and are used by world leading experts in the field of nutritional and functional medicine.
Nutritional oils are usually found as food supplements in 250-1,000 mg capsule format. While capsules are suitable to deliver adequate doses of vitamins and minerals, they fail at delivering macronutrients such as fatty acids as these need to be consumed in quantities up to 30% of the daily caloric intake (i.e. about 50-65 g for an adult).
Therefore, our personalized nutritional blends are delivered in monodoses or small bottles to be integrated in the daily diet of your patient. To ensure proper compliance to the program, the oils used to prepare our products have been selected to offer a unique sensory experience.
HOW TO ASSESS YOUR PATIENTS FATTY ACID PROFILES ?
The analysis of the concentration of fatty acids and lipid soluble vitamins is becoming globally available and is a standard practice to assess baseline condition and monitor the progress and impact of special dietetic program.
The fatty acids status can be assessed by analyzing the fatty acid profile of the plasma, serum, whole blood or erythrocytes. In the plasma, fatty acids are mainly found in lipoproteins and therefore their analysis provide a good indication of the quality of the dietary lipids consumed as well as their metabolism.
The analysis of the fatty acids in erythrocytes or whole blood (i.e. using conventional or Dried Blood Spot (DBS) sampling methodology) also provides good insight on the metabolism and tissue accretion of fatty acids. These methods are relevant and complementary to the analysis of the plasma fatty acids.
HOW DO WE DEFINE PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION ?
Defining a personal recommendation starts with the baseline evaluation of the fatty acid status in circulatory lipids, which is performed in a medical laboratory. Upon request from the physician, we are analyzing the dataset to recommend the consumption of a certain dose of a specific fatty acid formulation to reach the objective of normalizing the fatty acid status through nutrition.
The parameters processed include:
The concentration of the different fatty acids including g-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (ARA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
The ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids
After a follow-up visit, generally every 3-6 months, the evaluation of the fatty acid status in circulatory lipids is re-assessed and a new recommendation is provided to the health care practitioner if needed.
Patient data are coded in compliance with data privacy regulations (GDPR).
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE METABOLISM OF OMEGA-3 AND OMEGA-6 FTTY ACIDS
Fatty acids are found in animal and plant lipids commonly consumed and almost all of them can be synthetized de novo by the liver. Almost all of them… but certainly not linoleic and a-linolenic acids that are considered essential as these fatty acids cannot be made by the human body.
Linoleic and a-linolenic acids are the precursors of long-chain polyunsatured fatty acids from the Omega-6 fatty acid series, respectively.
The Omega-6 fatty acid series start with the conversion of the essential fatty acid linoleic acid (LA) into g-linolenic acid (GLA) by formation of a double bond between the carbons 6 and 7. GLA is the precursor of di-homo g-linolenic acid (DGLA) which can be metabolized to form anti-inflammatory prostaglandins (pge1 and pgf1a) and thromboxane (txa1). The end metabolite of the n-6 or w6 series is arachidonic acid (ARA) which is generated by desaturation of carbons 5 and 6 of DGLA. Arachidonic acid (ARA) serves as a precursor of several eicosanoids including prostaglandins (pgd2, pge2, pgf2a), prostacyclin pgi2, thromboxane txa2 and leukotrienes (lta4, ltb4, ltc4, ltd4 and lte4) which are involved in the mediation of the inflammatory responses.
The Omega-3 fatty acid series start with the conversion of a-linolenic acid (ALA) into stearidonic acid (SDA) by formation of a double bond between the carbons 6 and 7. SDA is the precursor of n-3 eicosatetraenoic acid which is converted into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) by desaturation of carbons 5 and 6. EPA can be metabolized to form anti-inflammatory prostaglandins (pge3, pgd3, pgf3a), thromboxane txa3, prostacyclin pgi3 and leukotrienes (lta5, ltb5, ltc5 and ltd5). Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the end metabolite of the n-3 or w3 series, is formed from EPA after 2 consecutive elongation steps followed by the desaturation of carbons 6 and 7 of n-3 tetracosahexaenoic acid and a partial beta-oxidation step.
