Reply To: Questforhealths plant-based diet thread
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When it comes to Fatty Acid Production, there are certain fatty acids that it can make, and some it can’t. Part of the reason that Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids are considered “essential” is that there isn’t a known mechanism of how the body could create them.
There are established mechanisms for things like Palmitic Acid (the 16 carbon saturated fat) and Oleic Acid (the 18 carbon monounsaturated fat). Oleic Acid is made mostly by the SCD1 enzyme, and as Brad Marshall has pointed out, this enzyme is overexpressed in obesity and those gaining weight. So, context is important. High amounts of Oleic Acid are “right,” if you want to gain a lot of fat (and many organisms do have this goal, like animals that are preparing for hibernation).
Foods highest in Vitamin E tend to have high amounts of PUFA, so consider that in the context.
The studies that show benefits using Methionine restriction used lab created diets with very little methionine. Levels so low, that you would probably exceed them even on a very low protein diet. It’s not very practical to any sort of real world diet, but it might have hinted at another mechanism, like glycine to methionine ratio. Studies that added glycine to the diet do show similar benefits, so maybe both sorts of studies where showing improvements by increasing the glycine to methionine ratio. That you can do with diet.
If you’re interested in examining things like PUFA/SFA or glycine/methionine ratios in a diet (either theoretical, or actual feedback day to day from what you eat), Cronometer is an excellent tool, and for no cost. Just make sure you are using selections that have values for the nutrient fields you are looking for. The more generic foods taken from things like the USDA database tend to have more things listed (like, say, PUFA, glycine, and methionine), while items from restaurants and brand name entries tend to just have macros like protein and a handful of micronutrients listed.