Arachidonic acid
Molecular formula C₂₀H₃₂O₂
Type Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid
Saturation Polyunsaturated (20 carbons, 4 double bonds)
Melting point
Food sources Made endogenously from dietary linoleic acid; also in meat, eggs
Synonyms ARA, AA, 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid
Ray's verdict Generally hurts
Freed from membranes under stress, feeds prostaglandins and inflammatory products, blocks glucose oxidation


Arachidonic acid is a 20-carbon omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid. Humans make it from dietary linoleic acid. Under stress, enzymes free it from membranes. Free arachidonic acid feeds prostaglandins and other inflammatory products. It blocks glucose oxidation and injures vessels and brain when liberated in bulk.

Public talk tagged arachidonic acid as the toxic "animal fat." Tissue levels track linoleic acid from seed oils.[1]

Along the way, the highly unsaturated arachidonic acid, which we and other animals make out of the linoleic acid in foods, was coming to be identified with the harmful animal fats. But we just didn't hear much about how the amount of arachidonic acid in the tissues depended on the amount of linoleic acid in the diet.

— Ray Peat[2]

Stress release and practice

[edit]

Stress frees arachidonic acid from tissues. Vessels disorder. When body fat is seed-oil heavy, free fat in blood is mostly linoleic and arachidonic acid.[3] Estrogen activates phospholipase that frees arachidonic acid. Progesterone opposes that path.[1] In brain injury, arachidonic acid and DHA both add secondary damage. Saturated fats sit on the calmer side. See Free fatty acids and PUFA.

Lower dietary linoleic acid. Tissue arachidonate falls over time. Skip fish-oil omega-3 megadoses as a clever fix. Those oils bring their own peroxidation and anti-metabolic load. Anti-stress hormones and steady sugar oxidation cut how much arachidonic acid dumps into blood under ordinary stress.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ray Peat, "Fats and degeneration," raypeat.com. Also Library:Fats and degeneration.
  2. ↑ Fats and degeneration, Ray Peat newsletter
  3. ↑ Ray Peat, "Fats, functions & malfunctions," raypeat.com.