What I have to say about the studies on “essential fatty acid deficiency (EFAD)” is that they are all incomplete, and it is necessary to piece the studies together like a puzzle, in addition to seeking out others that may not specifically address EFAD.
1. The overwhelming number of symptoms attributed to EFAD actually stems from the high metabolic rate caused by TEWL, which activates thermogenesis.
If you neutralize TEWL in an EFAD-affected animal by increasing the humidity in the laboratory, it grows and develops normally without any symptoms. In many studies on EFAD, researchers mention “spontaneous recovery”—usually in the summer, lasting for long periods—followed by a worsening of symptoms, which they attribute to the seasons and their fluctuations in humidity.
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2- The body is a dissipative system; if you remove n-3/n-6, the body changes the way it handles various processes that previously relied on them. It is a mistake in these studies to remove n-6 while keeping the diet essentially the same.
I’ll give an example using zinc, a deficiency of which causes similar skin symptoms:
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This table shows an EFAD (HCO) diet and a non-EFAD (corn oil) diet, and both have versions supplemented with zinc (C-2 and D-2); the key point here is that the protein source is casein (this detail will be important later):
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Now, in this table, it's the same thing, but supplemented with egg albumin instead of casein:
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It can be seen from these two tables that EFAD causes skin problems if:
There is a zinc deficiency
The proteins are casein-based, rather than egg albumin.
I was curious as to why the type of protein would influence the symptoms, so I remembered this:
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Egg albumin is rich in sulfur-containing amino acids.
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I considered the possibility of contamination with PUFA, but they also use soy protein, which I think theoretically poses a greater risk:
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Is it possible that, with enough zinc, they could live indefinitely on an EFAD diet? Who knows... Well, if the problem is humidity, people who live by the beach can easily follow a diet like this and reap the benefits of the EFAD (resistance to endotoxins, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, snake venom, etc.).
And btw, it is possible for a human to live well in EFAD, without skin problems, in a city as well.
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(not mine)
Thanks to learnmyhelpless at X for reminding me of zinc and EFAD relationship haha