INFORM February 2025 Volume 36 (2)

26 • inform February 2025, Vol. 36 (2)

Consuming fish oil or seafood along with their omega-3 fatty acids—good. Consuming too much red meat along with its omega-6 fatty acids—bad. In reality, however, the impact of arachidonic acid (an omega-6, polyunsaturated fat found only in animal products) upon human health remains a complicated, poorly understood matter. Fatty acids found in meat and poultry may be beneficial to human metabolism Steve Koppes

A Purdue University collaboration led by James Markworth, assis tant professor of animal sciences, will carefully test the health effects of omega-6 in laboratory experiments. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the experiments also will clarify which omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil and seafood are responsible for yielding their health benefits.

• A research team at Purdue University suspects that whether a fatty acid results in harm or benefit to the human body may depend on a person’s gut microbes. • They predict that the answer can be found in skeletal muscle, the largest site of glucose disposal and insulin sensitivity. • Previous experiments revealed that the composition of mice gut bacteria changed how fish oil was metabolized in their body.

Stained, cross-sectional sample of skeletal muscle tissue. Muscle cells (myo fibers) of differing contractile type, such as fast vs. slow twitch fibers, are dis tinguished via their resulting staining color. (Credit: Image provided by James Markworth/ Purdue University)