Juiste verhouding omega-3/omega-6 vetzuren voor goed immuunsysteem*
De laatste honderd jaar is er nog al een verschuiving geweest naar meer omega-6 vetzuren en minder
omega-3 vetzuren in de voeding. Verschillende wetenschappers hebben al laten horen dat daardoor de kans op een slechter immuunsysteem met meer ontstekingsziektes zoals astma, allergieën, diabetes en artritis groter wordt. In de tegenwoordige westerse voeding is de verhouding
van de vetzuren omega-6/omega-3 wel opgelopen naar waarde hoger dan 10/1 terwijl onze vroege voorouders voeding namen met een verhouding van 2/1. In deze studie kregen 27 vrijwilligers 5 weken lang een dieet met deze verhouding van 2/1 aan omega-6/omega-3 vetzuren. Na die tijd bleken de deelnemers tot wel 40% meer proteïnes
te hebben die zorgde voor een betere immuunafweer en minder ontstekingmarkers.
Omega Fatty Acid Balance Can Alter Immunity And Gene Expression
For the past century, changes in the Western diet have altered the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids (w6, found in meat and vegetable oils) compared with omega-3 fatty acids (w3, found in flax and fish oil). Many studies seem to indicate this shift has brought about an increased risk of inflammation (associated with autoimmunity and allergy), and now using a controlled diet study with human volunteers, researchers may have teased out a biological basis for these reported changes.
Anthropological evidence suggests that human ancestors maintained a 2:1 w6/w3 ratio for much of history, but in Western countries today the ratio has spiked to as high as 10:1. Since these omega fatty acids can be converted into inflammatory molecules, this dietary change is believed to also disrupt the proper balance of pro- and anti- inflammatory agents, resulting in increased systemic inflammation and a higher incidence of problems including asthma, allergies, diabetes, and arthritis.
Floyd Chilton and colleagues wanted to examine whether theses fatty acids might have other effects, and developed a dietary intervention strategy in which 27 healthy humans were fed a controlled diet mimicking the w6/w3 ratios of early humans over 5 weeks. They then looked at the gene levels of immune signals and cytokines (protein immune messengers), that impact autoimmunity and allergy in blood cells and found that many key signaling genes that promote inflammation were markedly reduced compared to a normal diet, including a signaling gene for a protein called PI3K, a critical early step in autoimmune and allergic inflammation responses.
This study demonstrates, for the first time in humans, that large changes in gene expression are likely an important mechanism by which these omega fatty acids exert their potent clinical effects.
From the article: Effect of dietary fatty acids on inflammatory gene expression in healthy humans, by Kelly L. Weaver, Priscilla Ivester, MIchael C. Seeds, L. Douglas Case, Jonathan Arm and Floyd H. Chilton
Source:
Nick Zagorski
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Juli
2009)
