USU researchers: 'Paleo' concerns about omega-6 might not be accurate

The Student Life section of Utah State Today highlights work written by the talented student journalists at Utah State University. Each week, the editor selects a story that has been published in The Utah Statesman or Utah State News Service (formerly The Hard News Café) or both for inclusion in Utah State Today.

USU researchers: 'Paleo' concerns about omega-6 might not be accurate

By Dylan Harlow from the Utah State News Service (Formerly the Hard News Café)

A research team at Utah State University is wrapping up a study that found no evidence that inflammation can be caused by certain types of fatty acids — a problem the Paleo Diet claims to fix.

“The thought is that if you eat certain kinds of fats, more pain and inflammation can occur because those fats can assist the transmission of pain signals,” said Robert Ward, a professor involved with the study. “We have found no evidence in support of this idea.”

The idea of the diet dates back to 1975, in a book by Walter Voegtlin, a gastroenterologist. It was then popularized by Loren Cordain in 2002 when he wrote the book “The Paleo Diet” and found significant popularity more than a decade later when it was the number one searched diet on Google in 2013.

Ward said fans of Paleo believe that omega-6 fatty acids, which were not as common in diets one hundred years ago, have led to increased levels of inflammation and obesity in the population.

“We tested to see if a significant increase in omega-6 in a mouse’s diet had an inflammatory effect,” he said. “In the mice that were given higher levels of omega-6, we saw no clear increase in inflammation.”

David Dang, a graduate research student who works with Ward, explained that the study is essentially complete and all that remains to be done are written conclusions.

“Hopefully this study will get enough exposure to get the word out on this topic,” he said.