Just go to my free website:

http://groups.msn.com/TheScientificDebateForum-

It is all explained there, down to the molecular level, with
supporting evidence from the professional literature cited.

Then just go to google and search for thescientificdebateforum- and
you'll see the pages.

I'll mention here that all anyone needs to do is to go to pubmed.com
and search for words like arachidonic. I just did and the twentieth
study cited (out of 1835 pages) was the following:

Mol Nutr Food Res. 2008 May 26. [Epub ahead of print]

"Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammatory processes and inflammatory
bowel diseases."

Calder, PC

QUOTE: With regard to inflammatory processes, the main fatty acids of
interest are the n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (AA), which is the
precursor of inflammatory eicosanoids like prostaglandin E(2) and
leukotriene B(4), and the n-3 PUFAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA are found in oily fish and
fish oils. EPA and DHA inhibit AA metabolism to inflammatory
eicosanoids. They also give rise to mediators that are less
inflammatory than those produced from AA or that are anti-
inflammatory. In addition to modifying the lipid mediator profile, n-3
PUFAs exert effects on other aspects of inflammation like leukocyte
chemotaxis and inflammatory cytokine production. Some of these effects
are likely due to changes in gene expression, as a result of altered
transcription factor activity. Fish oil has been shown to decrease
colonic damage and inflammation, weight loss and mortality in animal
models of colitis. Fish oil supplementation in patients with
inflammatory bowel diseases results in n-3 PUFA incorporation into gut
mucosal tissue and modification of inflammatory mediator profiles.
Clinical outcomes have been variably affected by fish oil, although
some trials report improved gut histology, decreased disease activity,
use of corticosteroids and relapse. UNQUOTE.

Note that the point I've made on this newsgroup many times is that you
do not need to have the highly biochemically unstable arachidonic acid
molecule in your body at all. It takes about 2 years to rid yourself
of it, and replace it with the natural Mead acid, which I did about
five years ago. Since then, I notice that inflammation only lasts a
couple or hours or to (if I get a cut) but it used to last for a few
days minimum when I had arachidonic acid in my cells. I've seen only
benefits from being "essential fatty acid deficient several chronic
conditions simply vanishing. Only if you are pregnant could there be
any issue, but that's not likely due to Mead acid (since humanity
would not be here if arachidonic acid was essential), but to several
factors, and like fish oil, it might seem to be "beneficial" under sub-
optimal conditions, but is dangerous in the long term and there are
safer alternatives in the short term.

I believe some of you will be happy to read this :-)

Could someone please identify which PUFAs have the
long chains.

RF wrote:
I believe some of you will be happy to read this :-)

Could someone please identify which PUFAs have the long chains.

I think the 18- and 20-carbon fatty acids are considered long, and
those with 22 or more are very long -- probably by comparison with
palmitic acid, which has 16. (It's the main one your liver cells and
fat cells make when your glycogen stores are full, but they make stearic
acid, C18, too. They're both saturated.)

Here are some naturally-occurring long and very long PUFAs:

C18:2n-6 linoleic acid (from Latin "linum" - flax, and "oleum" - oil)
C18:3n-3 alpha-linolenic acid
C18:3n-6 gamma-linolenic acid (GLA)
C20:4n-6 arachidonic acid (from "Arachis" - peanut)
C20:5n-3 timnodonic acid (EPA: for "eicosapentaenoic acid")
C22:5n-3 clupanodonic acid (from "Clupeidae" - herring)
C22:6n-3 cervonic acid (DHA: for "docosahexanoic acid," not to be
confused with L-dehydroxyascorbate")

The number following the colon indicates how many double bonds there
are, and the number following the "n-" indicates how far the first
double bond is from the tail (or "omega") end: the end farthest from the
COOH.

(From /Metabolism at a Glance/.)