I recently got in a YouTube debate with Tucker Goodrich, a financial consultant and belated Omega-6 critic on the evils of all things Omega-6. I was prevented from finishing this debate online though he claims he did not block my replies. I do know that when I tried to reply, I could not. Below is the dialogue:
My first post in response to his YouTube video:
I want to tear my hair out whenever I hear a podcast like this from health professionals! You guys seem never to distinguish between ADULTERATED omega 6s from UNADULTERATED ones! Its like feeding distilled water vs. contaminated water with toxins! Those rat were fed highly processed high Linoleic oils that have been hydrolyzed and made toxic for shelf life. If those rats had been fed cold-pressed, carefully stored linoleic corn or soy oils---the lab results would have been completely different. The Omega-6s are labeled essential fatty acids for a reason. They are needed to sustain life and we don't make them. If you have a diet full of toxic factory Omega-6s, it will replace the good omega-6s in cell membranes and in Cardiolipin and basically cause hypoxia and disrupt the electron transfer chain. If you supplement with cold pressed good linoleic fatty acids, it will improve you cell health. This is the basis for the Budwig Protocol which has cured cases of cancer in the past. As far as cardiolipin, It is naturally made up of LA 80-90% of the fatty acid chains are linoleic fatty acid (LA omega-6) in healthy individuals. If you replace the good linoleic with the toxic, naturally, you will get a "fried" mitochondria!
They're not essential, they oxidize in your body.
@douglasahart1874
They are essential. This was first discovered in 1962 when a woman had abdominal surgery and was fed a diet that was fat-less. She died from that diet. later in 1970 an infant that underwent intestinal surgery was fed IV a diet that was PUFA-less and its health deteriorated. Blood tests showed it could make the other fats, but not Omega-6 or 3. The body can protect the PUFAs with antioxidants. You completely ignored my main point of the difference between cis-omega-6 vs trans-omega-6! Why do you consider them both the same when both are totally different--particularly health wise?
@TuckerGoodrich0
Long-chain omega like DHA or AA are essential, 18 carbon omega like those found in seed oils are not. See research from Mark Puder's lab, or see episode 5 with Tom Brenna. You did not mention cis- vs. trans-omega 6. There are naturally occurring forms of both.
@douglasahart1874
Ok, I will check out Puder and Brenna. While some natural trans fats occur in meat and dairy products, the majority of trans fats come from processed foods (i.e., hydrogenated oils) and these are all quite harmful to health. From what I have read from Puder so far, he writes " These findings challenge the essentiality of LA and ALA in the presence of ARA and DHA." The KEY WORDS here is "in the presence"! What his study found may be true, but we as humans do not normally have access to refined ARA or DHA, alone, but we must use the precursors found in nature to manufacture out own ARA or DHA. So in this sense, LA and ALA is very essential! Unlike ARA and DHA, which can be synthesized from precursor fatty acids like LA and ALA, our bodies cannot produce LA and ALA on their own.
@tuckerg1975
Agreed, the synthetic ones are the harmful ones.
@douglasahart1874
I glad we agree on at least one thing! I watched Episode 5 last night and find you and Brenna underestimating the value of Cis-linoleic fatty acid. You two seem to think it is only valuable for skin health when in fact it is vital for the health of all cellular membranes, too. A "skin" you and he seem to ignore. The cis-linoleic fatty acid is vital in supporting the mitochondrial membrane fluidity that aids in oxygen diffusion across that membrane. The beauty of cis-linoleic fatty acid is its two double carbon bonds that form a weak bond with two oxygen atoms. It is strong enough to grab the oxygen atom outside the membrane but just weak enough to allow that oxygen atom to disassociate once it is across the membrane. The trans-linoleic structure does not have these double bonds. Compare this to oleic monosaturated fatty acids as found in olive oil, which has only one double bond. This one double bond can only bond with one oxygen atom while linoleic's two double bond can weakly bond to two oxygen atoms, which makes linoleic fatty acids far more efficient in oxygen membrane transfer for mitochondria. On the other hand, the three or more double bonds found in the omega-3 linolenic fatty acid or its longer structures are far too strong for oxygen atoms to disassociate very easily, plus it is far more prone to oxidize, creating toxic derivations. It is interesting to note that cis-linoleic acid's two double bond configuration's weak oxygen attraction is very similar to that of the blood’s hemoglobin, which allows the oxygen to easily dissociate from the haem molecule after initial attachment in the lungs—another perfect transport carrier
@tuckerg1975
This is entirely wrong. What happens is that the oxygen breaks the linoleic acid molecule, and releases toxic byproducts.
To Tucker I would reply:
A number of studies suggest otherwise. Linoleic fatty acid can have oxygen reversibility properties and need not oxidize completely when in the presence of oxygen.
1976 Apr;57(4):480-6. Abnormal fatty acid composition and impaired oxygen supply in cystic fibrosis patients
I M Campbell, D N Crozier, R B Caton Abstract
Impaired oxygen supply and deteriorating health, in cystic fibrosis patients, correlates with abnormal changes in the fatty acid composition of blood lipids. As the proportion of oleates increases and that of linoleates decreases, erythrocyte membrane interference with the formation of intracellular oxyhemoglobin increases and arterial oxygen pressure decreases. The physical-chemical basis for these changes seems to be that oleic and linoleic acid differ in their ability to undergo reversible oxygenation in response to changes in oxygen pressure. The oxygen complex of linoleic acid dissociates at relatively high pressures, whereas that of oleic dissociates only at low pressures. Accordingly, excessive substitution of oleic for linoleic acid in membrane lipids would be expected to decrease the intracellular oxygen pressure to a level where hemoglobin oxygenation and any other oxygen-requiring processes would be impaired.
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Campbell, I.M., Caton, R.B. & Crozier, D.N. Complex formation and reversible oxygenation of free fatty acids. Lipids 9, 916–920 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02532619
Combined manometric and spectrophotometric studies reveal that prior to true oxidation unsaturated fatty acids undergo an oxygenation which is reversible in response to changes in oxygen pressure. The oxygenation seems to result from the oxygen molecule having a specific affinity for pairs of olefinic bonds.
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