Originally Posted by mrsd (Post 210372)

Well I guess you never read my EFA posts?

GLA is an intermediate player in the metabolism of alpha linolenic acid to long chain fatty acids EPA and DHA (yes we make the same thing that is in fish oil)

It does not work if the beginning substrate Omega-3 contained in flax oil is not present. So look at your diet and see if you are getting enough or ANY beginning essential ALA (not the same as ALA alpha Lipoic acid--which shares this abbreviation.)

If you choose to do GLA, you find it in evening primrose or borage oil.
Taking it in a vacuum will not do much. If you want results you have to have flax oil in some form to work with.

Too much GLA I found can fuel excess PGE2s which are inflammatory and come from Omega-6 fatty acid linolenic acid.

So 1) you need flax with GLA, and 2) don't take really high doses.

The GLA data is very old. Much of it was done in Britain and other European countries. We used it here over 10 yrs ago, but as our fatty acid levels became normal I found we didn't need it.

Proper utilization of fatty acids requires also magnesium and vitamin B6.