the inflammation thing is a little complex.

Fatty acids are used in the synthesis of prostaglandins - these are substances our body makes which are responsible for pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response.

There are basically 3 types, one of which tends to have anti-inflammatory type actions while the other two have different types of primarily pro-inflammatory type actions.

prostaglandins are derived from fatty acids, some of which can be synthesized in the body. a deficit in dietary intake of essential fatty acids can cause the body to have an imbalance of what it needs to make the prostaglandins in "balanced" way. this can also happen if we get enough, but our intake is skewed.

It is a tricky business because there is not, in every case, a single metabolic pathway by which a fatty acide can be metabolized. The body will "choose" different metabolic pathways based on what it has available but also the proportions of what it has available, and accordingly, produce different quantities of the different types of prostaglandins. This process is affected by other nutrients necessary for metabolism of certain EFA's - eg, Magnesium, Zinc, Vit C and B complex... probably others. Deficiency in these, no matter if you are getting all the right EFA's, can produce an imbalance in prostaglandins.

An excessively high dietary intake of meat and dairy for example, will generally provide too many omega-6 ESSENTIAL fatty acids. These are not per se "bad for you." What is bad is a disproportionate intake of these.

FWIW, EPA, which is found in fish oil, is one of the building blocks for anti-inflammatory type prostaglandins. However what the article i posted tells us is, taking more of it might not help, unless you aren't getting enough of it. Now it is true that eating habits in our current society have been skewed towards high meat consumption (high Omega-6 source), so that most of us get have a much too high ratio of Omega-6:Omega-3s.. To make things worse, many of us lack required "assistive" nutrients for the processing of Omega-3's to produce our nice anti-inflammatory prostaglandins, because we do not eat our share of veggies!

i apologize to anyone fully knowledgeable about the precise biochemical processes involved for the gross oversimplification for the purposes of illustration.

i apologize to anyone in difficulty reading, if i have made this too complicated. Unfortunately it IS quite complicated.

~ waves ~