r/RayPeat someone, along with their family, developed an ARA and DHA deficiency
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This is interesting to think about. The full post is linked below. Essentially he was strictly PUFA avoident for two years, even using hydrogenated coconut oil as his only cooking oil. He tried different things such as high doses of B6, eating more MUFA, getting rid of EMF. He finally solved his families symptoms after adding back in conventional store bought eggs (the eggs from his farm wouldn't do it, he presumes because he fed his chicken no PUFA). He links Chris Masterjohn's articles on the topic (which are quite interesting to read since Chris is still favorable to saturated fat, along with this guy).
https://www.reddit.com/r/raypeat/comments/ztymf8/i_was_wrong_ara_and_dha_are_essential_fatty_acids/
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I'd be interested to see if a more academic poster could provide an alternative explanation. My reading comprehension must be very poor because I can't see him post how the deficiencies he is talking of presented themselves?
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Too many variables here to make any conclusion. I also dont see how you dont get enough of these things from dairy and meat already. Feeding your chickens low pufa food also isnt a guarantee that thy are healthy because chickens are not vegetarian and should be eating insects and even meat in a natural diet.
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@noseleather the guy was eating a very low fat diet as well. He says that if someone was eating a larger amount of fat or even like 3 eggs a day they probably would not get his issues.
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There are few studies on PUFA deficiency in which the rats consume a good amount of food, most studies keep the nutrients below the requirement and the rats degenerate.
I saw a study in which rats developed the symptoms of PUFA deficiency when placed on a fat-free diet ad libitum, the symptoms were cured spontaneously as long as the diet continued ad libitum, and it was even theorized that the rats produced the essential fatty acids. There's another study in which they didn't even develop symptoms even with a high amount of Mead's acid, but the diet was ad libitum from the start.
Without him talking about the symptoms, we can't be sure. The skin problems of PUFA deficiency seem to be caused by the replacement of linoleic acid(18:2n-6) by oleic acid(18:1n-9). You need a degree of unsaturation to control water permeability, there's a study that rats don't suffer many symptoms of deficiency because they kept the humidity high, it seems to take a while for mead acid(20:3n-9) to take over
WHE = 90% humidty
Bearing in mind that saturated and hydrogenated fats accelerate the depletion of DHA, I believe that the deficiency of DHA is real and there is no other that can replace its function.
In rats, 0.26% of calories in ALA was enough to maintain the maximum concentration of DHA(in organs such as the brain) in adult rats, 0.4% in young rats(which means it's difficult to become deficient in DHA). I haven't looked to see if it can be translated to humans literally, as a few oysters would do the job.
Tokelauans(max 7g PUFA/day) of the past seemed relatively depleted of omega-6 and were relatively free of the diseases of today, I don't remember reading about any particular problem
