What is Evening Primrose Oil?What is evening primrose oil? What does it do when we take it? What is evening primrose oil good for?  The evening primrose flower can be pale like a primrose or far duskier. What are the benefits of using evening primrose oil?Here is a page about the benefits of taking evening primrose oil and the part that essential fatty acids play in good health.There is a lot to learn about the benefits of evening primrose oil; this article is an introduction to the topic. For the sake of brevity, I refer to evening primrose oil as EPO in parts of this article. To begin to answer the question "What is evening primrose oil?" we need to first look at the plant it comes from. What is evening primrose oil?
It is a native of Mexico and probably migrated northward with tribes peoples. The benefits of evening primrose oil were noticed by North American Indians who used the plant for healing wounds and treating swellings. The seeds arrived in Europe by sea. Soil used as ballast was thrown out near docklands and the plants spread from there. In the 1920s some tests were done to determine the nutritional elements of evening primrose oil. What is evening primrose oil? So what's it got that other oils have not?Evening primrose oil is rich in GLA - Gamma-Linolenic acid which is a type of "essential fatty acid" (EFA). Essential fatty acids play a crucial role in our metabolism - essential, as the name suggests! They are in fact foods. Our bodies are able to use the elements such foods provide to maintain health. GLA is used for a variety of roles but in particular it helps the body to manufacture prostaglandins which have a key role in fighting infection and inflammation in the body. Prostaglandins are affected adversely by poor diet, aging and other factors, so it is important to give your body every opportunity to aid their production. EPO helps the body produce the prostaglandin PGE1 which is known for its anti-inflammatory and blood-thinning properties. Evening primrose oil (EPO) is not the only source of these valuable and rare EFAs. You get some GLA in blackcurrant seeds, for example. Other linolenic acids are found in diverse foods such as oils and green leaved plants. Walnuts and rapeseed are good sources of Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) for instance. (I must apologise for all the abbreviations - GLA, EPO, and EPA etc; they are hard to avoid!) What is evening primrose oil? Omega 3 and Omega 6 oilsThe amount of Omega 3 fatty acids in the diet is important because too much Omega 6 fatty acids can cause inflammatory reponses in the body. Our diets have become progressively less well supplied with Omega 3 fatty acids in recent centuries. This lack is probably the cause of many of the "diseases of civilisation". One of the main dietary sources of Omega 3 fats is from Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) found in fish oils. Although GLA is an Omega 6 fatty acid it behaves rather like an Omega 3 in that it reduces inflammation. What is evening primrose oil? Skip this bit if you want to avoid the technical stuff! These fatty acids are closely related in chemical structure. Both linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid are essential fatty acids, meaning that they are foods which we cannot get along without. Our bodies can make other kinds of fats from the building blocks supplied by foods. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is an Omega 3 fatty acid and as such is very beneficial. It's also found in a range of food stuffs, from flax to rapeseed and hemp. It's also found in some broad-leafed green plants. It is a close relation to GLA (an isomer). Linoleic acid (note the lack of an "n" in the name - a source of some confusion!) is an Omega 6 fatty acid. It is found in many vegetable oils, including sunflower and safflower oil and in other common foods such as eggs and walnuts. Shortage of LA can lead to hair loss and poor healing of wounds. It is needed by the body to build GLA. GLA is therefore usually well supplied in anyone who eats plenty of the common sources of linoleic acid. However, there may be a good many people in whom the conversion process is defective. The elderly and anyone whose diet is out of balance may not convert enough LA to GLA. The science is complex and still incomplete but there is a strange contradiction that is worth knowing about: GLA has marked anti-inflammatory properties whereas LA actually promotes inflammation. For example excessive LA in the diet has been blamed for some types of heart disease. Also, excessive amounts of LA may increase the need for Omega 3 fatty acids and GLA. What is evening primrose oil? Those of you who are still awake may have noticed that GLA is an essential fatty acid but the body can manufacture it from other EFAs. A seeming contradiction. The important thing to notice is that GLA from EPO provides a short cut to some valuable benefits some of which Omega 3s may also deliver. Chronic inflammationWhat the above means in practice is that anyone who is affected by chronic inflammation - whether of the skin (eczema, acne) or of deeper organs or tissues might be well advised to look at taking GLA (Evening Primrose Oil) supplements. The diet of most US citizens supplies more than 10 times the amount of linoleic acid needed for health. It also tends to supply too much omega-6 fatty acids as compared to omega-3. The ratio is important. GLA works much like Omega 3 fatty acid and helps undo the bad effects of too much LA. Nevertheless, if you are consuming too much LA it is worth taking a good look at your daily diet and finding ways to limit Omega 6 fats. (It goes without saying that saturated fats should also be limited!) That's enough of the rather complex biochemistry for now! Here are some details of how GLA from evening primrose may help us. What is evening primrose oil? Which problems can EPO help?There is still some controversy over how effective evening primrose oil may be. The British government has licensed it as a drug for atopic eczema and mastalgia (breast pain). However, some studies indicate that its effects are modest. What is evening primrose oil? The main ailments which EPO can helpWhat is evening primrose oil good for? Here is an outline list of the benefits of EPO to various ailments. It is by no means exhaustive. Benign breast disease and Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) symptoms may be relieved by EPO. EPO may be of some benefit in the menopause, in particular for reducing "hot flushes". EPO has also been used with some success for schizophrenia and for autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. GLA is also being studied as a potential anti-cancer agent. GLA is possibly able to suppress tumor growth and metastasis. Research is ongoing. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may be helped by GLA and the Omega 3 fatty acids as found in oily fish. ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) may be improved by evening primrose oil supplements. Obesity: Weight loss may be helped by evening primrose supplementation, especially for people who are more than 10% overweight. A combination of EPA (found in fish oil) and GLA may help atherosclerosis sufferers. GLA may also help prevent high blood pressure. Ulcers of various kinds may be helped by GLA supplements. Allergies may be helped but the evidence is at best inconclusive. People who are prone to allergies may require more essential fatty acids than average or they may have difficulty processing LA to get GLA. What is evening primrose oil? Any problems taking EPO?While the whole of the evening primrose plant is edible and there do not appear to be any cases of poisoning in traditional herbal use, there are still some restrictions to its use as a supplement.
The benefits of evening primrose oil are perhaps best obtained when it is used as a supplement in an already excellent diet. In other words, it is best not to treat it as a drug or a universal panacea. Use evening primrose oil carefully, together with a sensible, healthy diet and you should get good results. It is always best to consult a physician if you are suffering from anything other than minor complaints. I hope you have found enough information on what is evening primrose oil. If not, there is a search box below. Return from What is Evening Primrose Oil back to Green Health
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