Circulating omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and total and cause-specific mortality: the Cardiovascular Health Study

Since this seems helpful the next obvious step is to create a stroke protocol for how to get Omega-6 PFAs to the helpful level in your bloodstream. Do not do this on your own. This is a job for that great stroke association in the sky, that doesn't exist yet. You're fucking screwed because we have no one putting all this research together into a coherent whole for stroke prevention and rehabilitation. The answers are out there, we just need a couple dozen geniuses to put this all together. This won't happen in our lifetimes because everyone in the stroke world is JUST WAITING FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM!
I dare you to prove me wrong and that you have taken up this challenge.
Matt Lopez, president of the NSA?

Dr. Mariel Jessup, president of the ASA?
WSO President - Steve Davis (Australia)?   
Circulating omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and total and cause-specific mortality: the Cardiovascular Health Study

Wu JH¹, Lemaitre RN², King IB², Song X², Psaty BM², Siscovick DS², Mozaffarian D².

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Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Although omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFA) have been recommended to reduce coronary heart disease (CHD), controversy remains about benefits versus harms, including concerns over theorized proinflammatory effects of n-6 PUFA. We investigated associations of circulating n-6 PUFA including linoleic acid (the major dietary PUFA), γ-linolenic acid, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid, with total and cause-specific mortality in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based U.S. cohort.

METHODS AND RESULTS:

Among 2792 participants(aged ≥65 years) free of cardiovascular disease at baseline, plasma phospholipid n-6 PUFA were measured at baseline using standardized methods. All-cause and cause-specific mortality, and total incident CHD and stroke, were assessed and adjudicated centrally. Associations of PUFA with risk were assessed by Cox regression. During 34 291 person-years of follow-up (1992-2010), 1994 deaths occurred (678 cardiovascular deaths), with 427 fatal and 418 nonfatal CHD, and 154 fatal and 399 nonfatal strokes. In multivariable models, higher linoleic acid was associated with lower total mortality, with extreme-quintile hazard ratio =0.87 (P trend=0.005). Lower death was largely attributable to cardiovascular disease causes, especially nonarrhythmic CHD mortality (hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-0.82; P trend=0.001). Circulating γ-linolenic acid, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid were not significantly associated with total or cause-specific mortality (eg, for arachidonic acid and CHD death, the extreme-quintile hazard ratio was 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.70-1.34; P trend=0.87). Evaluated semiparametrically, linoleic acid showed graded inverse associations with total mortality (P=0.005). There was little evidence that associations of n-6 PUFA with total mortality varied by age, sex, race, or plasma n-3 PUFA. Evaluating both n-6 and n-3 PUFA, lowest risk was evident with highest levels of both.

CONCLUSIONS:

High circulating linoleic acid, but not other n-6 PUFA, was inversely associated with total and CHD mortality in older adults.
Inversely meaning high levels of linoleic acid are associated with lower mortality.