Arachidonic Acid

I have heard of people injecting prostaglandins for local muscle growth, but not heard of ingesting the precursor. Can't say if it will work or not. I can imagine all sorts of side effects though. Speaking from an immunological standpoint anyway.
Arachidonic acid is an n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, as opposed to n-3 PUFA such as those found in fish oil supps. An n-6 heavy diet is generally considered to act in a pro-inflammatory manner, whereas diet leaning toward the n-3 side in an anti-inflammatory manner. This latter effect is caused by a decrease in the synthesis of PG's and leukotrienes which are very pro-inflammatory molecules. Diets supplemented with n-3 PUFA are well known to decrease the severity of numerous inflammatory diseases.
Remember, acute inflammation is good (healing/repair), chronic is bad (disease). One might guess that supplementing or loading arachidonic acid might augment inflammatory responses, which can be good for muscle repair, but not so good for other things like asthma, arthritis, heart disease, or even tendonitis. A cursory look at Pubmed found a study which showed a positive correlation between acute myocardial infarction and dietary arachidonic acid levels. (Kark JD, Kaufmann NA, Binka F, Goldberger N, Berry EM., Adipose tissue n-6 fatty acids and acute myocardial infarction in a population consuming a diet high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Apr;77(4):796-802.). Now, this is not to say that there is cause and effect, only a correlation.
Most studies look at n-3 and not arachidonic acid supplementation, thus it may not be known if loading with this FA would augment inflammatory responses. My opinion is that systemic administration of arachidonic acid is risky, and might cause exacerbation of existing chronic inflammatory problems, i.e. if your rotator cuff is a little sore from flat bench, it might get much worse while using this supplement.
 
to quote myself from an earlier thread
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Why would anyone want to add arachadonic acid to their diet?

1) The involvement of additional AA in the stimulation of protein synthesis (Via Pg) will be small. (dose response)

2) you better stop taking your fish oils, as they will directly compete (and the enzymes like them better) with AA for conversion into the Pg

3) dont take any COX inhibiters

4) it would be cheaper to get a diet low in fish/n-3 fats and take in large amounts of n-6 fats. 42$ for 90 gelcaps (200mg). To get the 1.7g he keeps talking about would require an intake of 8.5 (say 8). Thats about 3.74 a day, for a supplement that is unproven. Why not just take steroids?

5) while Bill L has stated in his article that relatively short term supplementation (1.7g / 50days) showed no effect in cholesterol levels (well duh, AA is an n-6 fatty acid and it will lower LDL quite comfortably), this isnt the risk concern of a diet rich in n-6 fats. AA converts into pro-thrombotic prostaglandins, which unfortuantely create higher risk for thrombosis there fore heart disease (this is predominantly why n-3 fats lower heart disease risk, lowering thrombogenic risk). AA also converts into the thromboxane (TXA2) and the leukotriene (LTB4), both of which stimulate the release of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta, pro-inflammatory cytokines that have multiple direct effects into heart diease, or more indirectly thri the stimulation of IL-6 production in the liver/endothelial cells/adipose. IL6 can lead to multiple effects, that wont show up from short term supplementation, but more along the lines of
Insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, edothelial disfunction, and via Il6 stimulated C reactive protein, monocyte recruitment, increasing ICAM/VCAM, increases uptake of LDL by macrophages, activates complement, and colocalise the membrane attack complex. All of which leads us to the final result of Atherosclerosis.
(basically a quick rundown of the 'inflammatory' theory of heart diease.)

6) AA is NOT essential, as it can be created in the body, linloeic acid is the essential fat related to AA

7) No research showing increase AA intake will increase muscle mass
Click to expand...
 
http://forum.avantlabs.com/index.p....&t=5109
If you guys are interested as to whether this product works, Mike at 1FAST donated a case and is having me run a test. We started out with 9 testers, but 3 of them have since flaked. We still have 6 testers, and a few weeks left to go.
There is also a summarized thread in the same forum, which is where I will post the final data analysis.
 
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