(917) Functional fatty acid defficiency

Today we will talk about a condition called fatty acid functional deficiency. The word "functional" denotes that under normal circumstances, what would be enough becomes short under special circumstances. One of the special circumstances would be high stress. Our bodies need many types of fatty acids in order to metabolise the food we take in. Even though there are a few individuals who survive only on fruits, nuts and vegetables alone, they need a fair amount of nuts to function. Certain nuts are rich in fatty acids the body needs desperately.

I was extremely fortunate to be born in the sixties when just about everyone in my community were healthily thin. My parents allowed me to take as much food in any combination I chose as long as I did not encroach on others' share. I remember taking two plates of rice for any meal I take at home throughout my school days. You see, each day I used to walk at least 4 km just to get to school. Whenever I stay up nights to do home work or study, I would cook and eat 1 packet of instant noodle with plenty of shallot oil (which my mum supplies year round) at about 10pm. I know, that is very unhealthy. But at that point I had a very high metabolic rate. Without extra food intake at night, I would be even thinner.

However, my niece was not as fortunate. Remember her who did not do so well in cold winter nights that are so long in UK? From young, her mum and grandma monitor her food intake. Prosperity leads to higher BMI across the board in our society. Although my brother's family members are healthy and weigh in normally, they are very careful of their oil intake.

There was a week that I took over the cooking of dinners for this family as my mum was unwell. Everything I cooked was too oily for them. I had to consciously cut down the amount of oil I used to half to fit their preference. I wonder if my niece's life long problem of rashes, hives and eczema were related to fatty acid deficiency? It was uncanny that her skin problems peaked around the time she was stressed over public examinations! Could it be that under normal circumstances, she has enough fatty acids in her diet. But the minute she was under stress, her normal need would double or triple, the body's inability to meet that need leads to burning down of whatever store of fat in the body, thereafter the unmet need manifests itself in a host of skin irritations?

I was a fat baby. But by the time I was about four years old I looked like a starving child from Africa (minus the distended belly). That was a very difficult time of learning for me, I had lots of problems pronouncing certain sounds in my dialect. The worst problem was saying "rice" correctly. For at least two years I could not say sounds beginning with "f" correctly. All the kids in the neighbourhood would laugh and taunt me when I said charcoal instead. Some mean ones would take a piece of charcoal and force it into my mouth. So instead of saying eat rice (lunch or dinner) I would have to remember to say eat porridge (which begins with a "c" sound). I seldom tell anyone this part of my past. No one would believe me, as I fought against all these in born speech impediments for many years. By the time I was fourteen years old, I was an expert debater who won competitions. But along the way I used to stammer too, especially in my elementary school years.

Enough about me and my niece. We move on to my no. two daughter. One day my husband caught her drinking two soup spoonfuls of raw peanut(cooking) oil. Out of all my children, this one is the shortest and the thinnest. After telling my husband that I would not worry about it, the entire story that I suspect my maternal family side may carry this genetic aberration came out. My husband was very surprised. He has been married to me for twenty over years and has not heard me mention "fatty acid functional deficiency" before.

If you have read my last post of Elizabeth's "boo boo" in the office as a temporary staff, it would be interesting to note that on her way home from the office (she drives now), she would buy some deep fried staff (like fried banana fritters) from the road side stall. From how much she bought, I can tell what kind of day she had. On an excellent day, she would not even think of such oily stuff. But that particular day that I captured "Learning difficulties 17" out of her gloom and doom, she bought four types of fried stuff. Of course I don't allow her to eat too much of such food. But you and I can see that the stress level is directly proportionate to the craving for oil.