Fats - DHA, EPA, AA

Here I will include my post on DHA, EPA and AA which I'm hoping many of you have read and understand, It doesn't get repeated often enough and I'm so frequently responding with this to questions relating to fish etc, I have added slight parts to the previous to help fill some possibly void gaps.

The essential fats are AA and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), the best source of DHA is fish but the problem with fish is that it contains far too much EPA and the EPA requirement is nil. EPA reduces androgen receptor density and also reduces the binding affinity of androgens to the androgen receptors that are present. Your testosterone levels will appear normal if you get a blood test but what a blood test doesn't show is that the testosterone in your blood won't be able to do its job properly because there won't be enough androgen receptors for it to bind to and even the androgen

receptors that are present won't bind very well with testosterone.

It just so happens that eggs contain a decent amount of DHA, a lot of AA and very little EPA, so if you eat enough eggs you can get all the DHA (some AA) you need without getting too much EPA.EPA is basically a much weaker version of AA which can fill in for AA when needed. EPA in and of itself isn't anti-inflammatory, it promotes inflammation as well, it's just that it's much less potent than AA when it comes to promoting inflammation, so if you decrease your AA levels and increase your EPA levels the net effect is reduced inflammation because EPA isn't as potent as AA.

Assuming you take proper care of your body EPA will be of no benefit to you because you won't have any inflammatory diseases in the first place. EPA can only slow inflammation if there's inflammation present to begin with. If you did have a disease, like heart disease however, the AA/EPA ratio would speed up the disease and you would die from it sooner. This is why in studies EPA protects against heart disease, whereas in reality they died from something else sooner. Now technically speaking AA and DHA can be converted from LA (parent omega 6) and ALA

(parent omega 3) respectively but the conversion efficiency is extremely poor, it's far better to eat AA and DHA directly. It's still taught that LA and ALA are the 2 essential fatty acids but this is misleading, LA and ALA themselves aren't essential, they're simply converted into AA and DHA. If you feed an animal a diet with zero LA and ALA content but you supply AA and DHA directly the animal grows perfectly normal with absolutely no EFA deficiency symptoms.

Fish oil will only boost anabolism in people who are deficient in DHA, it's the DHA component of fish oil that's responsible for improving muscle growth, EPA interferes with recovery/growth. This is why either eating high DHA foods is best and supplementing with DHA if the target cannot be met with food (Approximately 6 eggs). DHA is important for maintaining brain, nervous system, wound healing, hormone production and eye health, you need 300mg a day to maintain this optimally, this is another reason why I love eggs so much as the AA also supports muscle growth and repair.

1 large egg contains around 70 mg of AA and 50 mg of DHA. If you eat 6 eggs per day you've already met your DHA requirements and you've also met most of your AA requirements (500 mg per day for athletes/body builders or anyone else with a physically demanding job/lifestyle). Normal eggs are fine, they contain a better DHA/EPA ratio then omega 3 eggs.

Eggs also support strength training, a recent study shows <200 mg cholesterol per day = 21% strength increase, 400 mg cholesterol per day = 38% strength increase, 800 mg of cholesterol per day = 52% strength increase. Eggs also support liver health, as they contain phoshatidylcholine and contain choline which is required to form acetylcholine which is an important neurotransmitter, acetylcholine has many functions but one of its primary ones is to fire/activate your muscles, if your acetylcholine levels are low you'll have a hard time recruiting/firing your muscles, in other words

you'll be weaker than usual. The phoshatidylcholine helps prevent fatty liver and plays an important role in the transportation of fats throughout the blood stream.

choline which is required to form acetylcholine which is an important neurotransmitter, acetylcholine has many functions but one of its primary ones is to fire/activate your muscles, if your acetylcholine levels are low you'll have a hard time recruiting/firing your muscles, in other words you'll be weaker than usual.

Here is a DHA supplement I recommend taking for those who do not achieve 6 eggs per day, take one of these in the 

AM every other day - 

http://www.iherb.com/Natrol-DHA-500-Super-Strength-Brain-Support-500-mg-30-Softgels/21477

I meet the rest of the AA requirement through meat, especially red meat, there's more AA in the lean part of the meat but there is AA in the fatty part as well, perhaps a 70/30 split. Red meat isn't dangerous although you should never eat burnt or overly browned meat, it contains cancer causing substances. For cooking, oven is the best because the heat is lower and more even. I don't eat microwaved food, it's harmful, microwaving food generates radiolytic compounds and carcinogens.

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