Arachidonic acid: Hello, I am the wife... - Advanced Prostate...

Advanced Prostate Cancer

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Arachidonic acid

msnik profile image
8 Replies

Hello, I am the wife of a man who is 17 years post prostatectomy, 15 years post salvage radiation, participant in at least 4 clinical trials (not all with treatment goal) and beneficiary of one anti-CTLA 4 trial in which he was an exceptional responder....TMI?

He is 68 years old, has bone metastases, over 3 years on Lupron, Casodex was added ? last summer? OK, long story short: he has, over the years, tried various diets and has also tried therapeutically prepared Green Tea (a la Dr. Shutsung Liao sp? U. of Chicago)

and he is now trying to avoid ARACHIDONIC ACID in his diet.....BUT, he eats a lot of turkey, in the belief that turkey does not have same amount of Arachidonic Acid as chicken.....I have no expertise, or knowledge, or opinion, JUST WORRY, that he is not correct and may not in fact be accomplishing that which he seeks to accomplish....anyone else out there who is keen on avoiding ARACHIDONIC ACID in the diet? I am agnostic as to whether or not avoiding dietary intake actually affects substances in the body.....and how they work in the body....I know some of you out there are very up to date on many things vis a vis treatment so figured you might also know about diet. THANK YOU!

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ITCandy profile image
ITCandy

epi.grants.cancer.gov/diet/...

I'm going to switch to turkey as well as I eat far too much chicken these days.

Thanks for posting.

msnik profile image
msnik in reply to ITCandy

epi.grants.cancer.gov/diet/...

"Table 4. Food sources of arachidonic acid (PFA 20:4), listed in descending order by percentages of their contribution to intake, based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006"

Hello ITCandy, I just clicked on the link you provided.

I am afraid that you misunderstood my question.....

and I am afraid that my husband has misunderstood the significance of this graph....

it says FOOD SOURCES......and it is based on a survey......so, maybe the people answering this survey only ate TURKEY on Thanksgiving and they ate chicken twice a week....

it is not a scientific study of the amount of arachidonic acid in various foods....

IF I UNDERSTAND it at all, it is a study of the amount of arachidonic acid consumed in various foods.....

I cried out 'NO NO NO' when I saw your response.....

I am NOT advocating TURKEY.....I am asking if there are any scientifically savvy people out there who know IF there is a difference between TURKEY and CHICKEN......

I am so sorry.....I am not trying to mislead anyone....

I AM TRYING TO GET MORE AND BETTER INFO. to try to help my husband in his efforts to extend his life.....THANKS!!!!

with apologies and regrets.....

softwaremom00 profile image
softwaremom00 in reply to msnik

I do not know if these answer your question but here are some links from nutritionfacts.org

nutritionfacts.org/topics/a...

I will post more when I have finished watching. According to Dr Greger a plant based diet is best for prostate cancer. He often mentions the Dean Ornish study on men with prostate cancer who they fed a plant based diet to and it actually reduced the PSA's of the folks.(These were early stage prostate cancer men)

That said I still think the integrative approach is best. For my husband he uses diet and medicine.

-------edited to add-----

Here is one that mentions turkey

epi.grants.cancer.gov/diet/...

I like the simple descriptions in this article:

fitday.com/fitness-articles...

msnik profile image
msnik in reply to softwaremom00

hello, thanks for your reply. I remember one of the doctors saying that a diet that would be good for heart health would also be good for prostate cancer....and, that you might not necessarily die of prostate cancer....thanks.

pjoshea13 profile image
pjoshea13

Many who read about arachidonic acid [AA] come away with the idea that it is the evil omega-6 fatty acid. In fact, it is a conditionally essential fatty acid.

If there were no AA in the diet, the body would make what it needs from linoleic acid [LA]. LA became an excessive part of the U.S. diet when polyunsaturated fatty acids replaced animal fats for cooking. Even so, there is a limit to how much AA the body will make.

AA is an issue because of its inflammatory metabolites. But the problem is not so much with AA, but with the enzymes that act on AA to produce those metabolites. Cancer is an inflammatory disease. It chronically activates NF-kB, which causes the release of the COX & LOX enzymes that act on AA. I worry more about inhibiting NF-kB than restricting AA.

While AA is definitely pro-inflammatory, it is essential. PCa lipid rafts will contain AA. However, if there are sufficient marine omega-3 fatty acids in the diet (EPA/DHA), the lipid rafts will contain less AA.

Note that "Arachidonic acid is one of the most abundant fatty acids in the brain, and is present in similar quantities to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The two account for approximately 20% of its fatty acid content." [1]

Turkey does not have less AA than chicken according to the USDA Database:

AA (20:4) in ground chicken: 0.074g per 100g (3.5 oz). Total fat: 8.10% [2]

AA (20:4) in ground turkey: 0.098g per 100g. Total fat: 7.66% [3]

AA (20:4) in eggs: 0.188g per 100g (2 large eggs).

I have written a number of posts on inflammation. Inflammation affects survival. Restricting AA intake will not in itself address inflammation.

-Patrick

[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arach...

[2] ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/...

[3] ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/...

msnik profile image
msnik in reply to pjoshea13

Thank you. I will bring your reply to my husband's attention. I am sure he is going to be very disappointed about the turkey information.....but I think that the inflammation information should be of interest to him. He does eat a fair amount of canned sardines......so, perhaps he is getting the "marine" fatty acids.....

Captain_Dave profile image
Captain_Dave

As Patrick said above "AA is an issue because of its inflammatory metabolites." There are supplements that can block those metabolites. Fish oil, green tea, curcumin, boswellia (as in 5-Loxin supplement) to name a few.

-Dave

msnik profile image
msnik

Thanks Captain Dave. As of now, he does not seem interested in supplements....but I will direct his attention to your post.

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