What about the effects of dietary lipids on endogenous prostanoid synthesis? A state-of-the-art review.

The endogenous prostanoid synthesis can principally be influenced by a variation of the polyunsaturated fatty acid supply in food. Withholding an essential fatty acid supply in food for a length of time results in a low rate of formation of prostanoids. However, there is no simple correlation between the amount of prostaglandin precursor fatty acid supplied with food and the biosynthesis of prostanoids in the different organs. A progressive increase of the intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids results in irregular changes in the prostanoid synthesis of the organism. The impact of various parameters should be taken into account, e.g., the period of feeding, the preexperimental state of the organism, the kind of polyunsaturated fatty acid related to a particular family of fatty acids, interactions with other components of food, differences of the species, organ specificities, aspects of chronoperiodicity, interactions of the prostanoids (and polyunsaturated fatty acids, respectively) with other metabolic circuits on a different level of integration, and details in the methods applied in the determination of prostanoids. Above all, care must be taken to prevent too general conclusions being drawn about the influence on the endogenous synthesis of prostanoids by dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids.