Abstract
An important nutritional question as to whether a balanced ω-6/ω-3 fatty acid ratio can reduce risk of modern diseases needs to be addressed in well-qualified experimental models. The recent development of genetic approaches to balancing ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acid ratio by expressing the fat-1 gene (encoding an omega-3 fatty acid desaturase) in cultured mammalian cells and animals provides a new opportunity to address this issue. Using this technology, we have performed a series of experiments in both fat-1 transgenic cells (in vitro) and animals (in vivo). Our data obtained so far, as summarized in this chapter, support the notion that a reduced or balanced ratio of cellular ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acids is favorable for normal cell function and may reduce the risk of certain diseases, including cardiovascular disease, inflammatory disorders and cancer.
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Kang, J.X. (2008). Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio is Important for Health. In: De Meester, F., Watson, R.R. (eds) Wild-Type Food in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-330-1_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-330-1_4
Publisher Name: Humana Press
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