Fatty acids

[cojand]

few comments. Omega 3's were more prevalent in Paleolithic diets since we ate more seeds and the animals we ate only ate other animals, seeds and grasses unlike the grain fed livestock today.

We need more omega 3's today due to the high refined carbo diet (omega 3's activate PPARs which help reduce insulin resistance) and we need them to compete with the high level of omega 6's. The 3's and 6's compete in the body in generating different prostaglandins (the 3's are anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory and the 6s are the opposite).

www.OmegaBrite.com is a source of super pure incredibley high EPA fish oils. It is owned by a pair of Harvard docs.

[Marcusje]

Interesting discussion!
My 2 cents:

IMO "Know Your Fats (Mary G. Enig)" is a scientifically much more solid book on the subject of fats in general and omega fats in particular than Udo's book (have and have read both).

Personally wouldn't bother with expensive alfa linolic acid oil blends like Udo's Choice, but instead add freshly ground flax seed (use electric coffee grinder for this) to your diet.
It's very cheap and adds fibers and lignans to your diet (which flax oil doesn't) and oxidizes considerably less easily.
The best and most comprehensive info on flax I ever came across on the net:

http://www.flaxcouncil.ca/primer.htm

There's no substitute for eating fresh fish

Fatty fish is almost always contaminated fat solueble toxins and heavy metals.
So I think high quality fish oil (pharmaceutical grade purified using moleculary destillation) is actually healthier.

I also read (I think from JB) the uptake of oils from capsules is very poor

First time I ever heard about it and why would it be?? It's just fat.

Take Vitamin E whenever you take EFA's

Mixed tocopherols are said to offer the best protection.

Most people don't have too much difficulty getting enough LNA (omega-6) because corn oil and other common vegetable oils are so common in our diet, but converting that LNA into something metabolically useful is a challenge for some. As a result, they simply can't convert their corn oils into the really good EFAs, like DGLA, and never reap the benefits - enter evening primrose and black currant. Does that help make sense of stuff?

Small correction: LNA is alfa-linolic acid which is a omega 3 fatty acid.
If you mean LA (=linolic acid=omega 6) I can agree with your line of reasoning, though I myself would prefer a more fundamental solution in which you improve your diet in such a way that conversion of LA to its elongated forms isn't inhibited by flaws in your diet anymore (same thing goes for the troublesome conversion of alfa linolic acid to its elongated forms).

like to investigate the paleolithic diet during the evolutionary process...this shows that the Omega 3s were far more vital then now. Strand and others state that the levels are present to prevent disease, it's like taking a few limes in your coronas as a way to prevent rickets....history has a clear path of showing how large amounts of O3 from shell fish near the African coast helped with brain development....

I see you read The Madness Of Adam + Eve (D. Horrobin) as well
Tried Paleo Diet btw and think it's a great diet, which I still for the most part adhere to. Have only added (raw full fat) milk since I can tolerate it well and without it have a hard time getting in the calories I need for my activity level (4000+).

Does that mean by grilling/pan frying my salmon steak I am reducing or losing all fatty acids?

Since omega 3 fatty acids are easily oxidized I thought heating would destroy all of them.
But after doing some research it's not as bad as I thought. See:
1. Oxidation process affecting fatty acids and cholesterol in fried and roasted salmon.
J Agric Food Chem. 2001 Nov;49(11):5662-7
2. Effects of different cooking procedures on lipid quality and cholesterol oxidation of farmed salmon fish (Salmo salar).
J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Aug 11;52(16):5290-6
3. Comparison of the effects of microwave cooking and conventional cooking methods on the composition of fatty acids and fat quality indicators in herring.
Nahrung. 2002 Dec;46(6):383-8
4. Changes in fatty acid composition in sardines (Sardinops melanosticta) with cooking and refrigerated storage.
J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 1989 Feb;35(1):39-47.
5. Repeated use of oil for frying fish. Effects of feeding the fried fish to rats.
Nahrung. 2000 Oct;44(5):368-72.
6. Effects of season and processing on oil content and fatty acids of baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras).
J Agric Food Chem. 2000 Dec;48(12):6085-93
For people with no acces to the full articles here the most relevant table of the first article: