Essential Fatty Acids Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are the “good fats” that we need for optimum health and resistance to disease. EFAs are, in fact, “vitamins,” because our bodies cannot synthesize them.It is virtually impossible to obtain optimum amounts of EFAs from diet alone. Therefore, a complete nutritional supplementation program must include them. Your body uses EFAs to make cell membranes, the highly selective barriers that determine what gets into your cells and what must stay out. EFAs also support the synthesis of hormone-like chemical messengers called prostaglandins, which influence the activity of the immune, nervous, circulatory, endocrine (hormone), excretory, and reproductive systems. A lack of dietary EFAs plays a prominent role in the development of many chronic degenerative diseases, including heart attack, stroke, and cancer. Other diseases caused by a shortfall of EFAs include:
allergies,
arthritis,
asthma,
atherosclerosis,
autoimmune disease,
diabetes,
eczema,
high blood pressure,
high cholesterol,
inflammatory disorders, and
poor wound healing. |