Metabolism of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in women with dysmenorrhea

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Author : Chao-Chih Wu, Mei-Yu Huang, Rakesh Kapoor, Chih-Hung Chen and Yung-Sheng Huang
Keyword : arachidonic acid, borage oil, fish oil, omega-3 fatty acids, prostaglandins, sunflower oil, supplementation
DOI :
Issue : Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2008;17 (S1):216-219
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Abstract

Menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea) is one of the main complaints in clinics for women. The pain is often accompa- nied by other symptoms such as headache, nausea, constipation or diarrhea, urinary frequency, and vomiting which often leave the patients incapacitated for work or school for a few days. Dietary supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) has been shown to alleviate the menstrual pain. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of dietary supplementation with PUFA (sunflower seed oil, borage oil and fish oil concentrate) for three months on RBC membrane fatty acid composition in healthy and dysmenorrheica young women. Conversion of linoleic acid, via gamma-linolenic acid, to dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid(a pre- cursor of anti-inflammatory prostaglandin E1) in dysmenorrheic subjects as compared to the controls was slower whereas the level of arachidonic acid (a precursor of pro-inflammatory PGE2) was not affected by the supple- mentation. Since there are no known side-effects associated with supplementation of these nutrients, manage- ment of dysmenorrhea through nutrition modulation should be an acceptable alternative to drug treatments.

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