SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS: EVENING PRIMROSE OIL
This oil has been included as a supplement because it’s the only food source on earth that contains almost all the essential fatty acids needed by the body. Some of these essential fatty acids can be made by the body (which is why they are not widely found in food) if it’s well nourished, not under stress or assailed by drugs and alcohol. The conditions required for optimum essential fatty acid formation are rare today which is why evening primrose oil is an essential food component of the programs in this book.
The fatty acids in evening primrose oil are needed to maintain the structural integrity of the membranes of all the cells in the body. Cell membranes are subject to damage from the wear and tear of substances passing through them—bacterial, viral and fungal infections and histamine released during allergic reactions. If the cell is unable to repair its membranes, holes appear that allow the passage of foreign substances into the cell. Heavy metals, toxins from infections and the assorted flotsam and jetsam that accumulates in the body (from breathing polluted air, drinking tap water, eating processed food and the waste products of body metabolism) can float in and out of the cell. These unwanted foreign substances get themselves involved in normally occurring chemical reactions, altering their outcome, thus disrupting the cell’s metabolism. Not only that, enzymes essential to the cell’s function can float out further disrupting the cell’s metabolism.
The body prefers to make its cell membrane from the unsaturated oils. If there is a deficiency in them it’s forced to use the hard, saturated animal fats. These are not as good and the membrane becomes hard and less permeable to the admission of nutrients and the emission of waste products. The fatty acids in evening primrose oil and MaxEPA—the marine oil (lipid) concentrate—are necessary for the cell to make special chemicals called prostaglandins. These chemicals are imperative for keeping the metabolism balanced. Particularly the metabolism of the kidneys. Fluid retention (over-weight) is a major symptom of metabolic imbalance born of prostaglandin synthesis inhibition. The fatty acids are needed to make the stress and sex hormones, the latter being particularly important for maintaining metabolic balance.
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