Potential of Evening Primrose, Borage, Black Currant, and Fungal Oils in Human Health

Sorry, there is no abstract. Read the first few lines of the text instead! Evening primrose (EPO), borage (BO), black currant (BCO), and fungal (FUO) oils are receiving increasing attention for their potential in human medicine. In part, this interest arises from the conversion of gamma -linolenic acid [GLA, 18:3 (n-6)], contained in the oils (table1), to dihomo- gamma -linolenic acid [DGLA, 20:3 (n-6)] and in the case of BCO and sometimes FUO, alpha -linolenic acid [ALA 18:3 (n-3)] to eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA, 20:5 (n-3)] in the body (fig.1). DGLA is a precursor to a variety of the 1-series prostaglandins (PG; e.g. PGE1) and three-series leukotrienes (LT; e.g. LTC3). EPA is converted to the 3-series PG (e.g. PGE3) and 5-series LT (e.g. LTB5). It is hypothesized that elevation of DGLA and/or EPA in body phospholipid (PL) will be at the expense of the sometimes disease-promoting 2-series PG (e.g. PGE2) and 4-series LT (e.g. LTB4; fig.1) derived from arachidonic acid [AA, 20:4 (n-6)]. The following review critically examines studies using these oils relative to their actual or potential use in selected human pathologies. Copyright [copy 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel