Grant: Fellowship - PA: Regional Partnership Program - Newfoundland & Labrador

There are two types of fats essential for normal growth and development: the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These are essential fatty acids and must be supplied by diet as the body can not make them. People living in industrialized Western countries eat up to 30 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids, resulting in a relative deficiency of omega-3 fats. Omega-6 metabolic products are inflammatory in nature and make the body more prone to heart diseases, strokes, and cancer. Eating diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids or taking fish oil supplements can restore the balance between the two fatty acids and can possibly reverse these disease processes. The omega-3 fatty acids increase the concentrations of good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein) while decreasing the concentrations of bad cholesterol (low density lipoprotein). We are proposing to report the beneficial effects resulting from optimizing the dose of omega-3 fatty acids in correlation with omega-6 fatty acids present in the diets. This will be done using C57BL/6 mouse model. The gender specific effects will also be investigated. We will further establish the mechanisms by which these fatty acids regulate metabolic pathways.