[ The T Rex gobbles up his Essential Fatty Acids! ]

* Information obtained from EFAMOL Inc.
World Leaders in Research of Essentional Fatty Acids

Efamol : [NUTRICIA now owns Efamol]
The Inside Story

The Beginning

Essential fatty acids were discovered in the late 1920s and have since been the subject of significant biochemical research by scientists seeking to understand their impact on human beings. In the 1950s, Hugh Sinclair, a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford drew attention to their potential health benefits only to be mocked and ignored. However, the scientific community and the world took note when Sinclair's friend and colleague, Dr. David Horrobin, who studied essential fatty acids in the 1970s and 1980s, provided a scientific basis for using GLAs. Dr. Horrobin found that GLA is very likely a major source of human health and nutrition. He went on to show that EPO was the best and most effective source of GLA and founded Efamol Ltd. in 1977.

Not Any EPO Will Do

The Evening Primrose plant is roughly 70,000-years-old and colonies exist all over the world. Today, Efamol has investigated more than 2,000 varieties to determine those breeds best suited for human health. To that end, the Efamol Plant Research Unit at Writtle in Essex, England has developed and been awarded Plant Breeders Rights (the equivalent to a patent) to five varieties of the Evening Primrose in the UK and in the US. These are genetically stable plants that cultivate easily, have a high potential yield and thrive in different climates of the northern and southern hemisphere. As a result, Evening Primrose plants harvested by Efamol germinate faster and yield the highest quantity of seeds. The goal is to obtain the most biologically effective plant in the most cost-effective manner and pass the quality and savings on to Efamol customers.

Extracting the Highest Quality EPO

Evening Primrose seeds are small, abrasive and difficult to handle in bulk. The seeds are so small, it takes 5,000 to make a single EPO capsule. Besides GLA and linoleic acid, EPOs contain biologically active traces of other substances and antioxidants to keep them fresh and stable. The secret of extraction is how to penetrate the seed without impairing the oil. Regrettably, traditional techniques, such as cold pressing, though effective with culinary oils, generate heat that may destroy irreplaceable ingredients. The process requires so much pressure that the resulting oil is often dirty and of poor quality. Chemical refining is usually used to clean up the oil, but it often causes more damage than it repairs and increases the degradation of the EPO. Efamol gentle one-step process uses an extracting agent naturally formed in the human body to produce a healthful, nutritious EPO that captures all of the Evening Primrose's natural goodness.

How EPO Helps Provide the Body's Essential Fatty Acids

Essential Fatty Acids, though vital to the structure of all cell membranes, are, like vitamins, not manufactured by the body, and must be obtained from polyunsaturated vegetable oils, fish oils or human breast milk. Once ingested, essential fatty acids' main dietary source, linoleic acid (LA), must be transformed first to GLA in this process and then to a whole series of other natural substances essential to the body's well being, including prostaglandins. The first step in this process varies from person to person as has been shown by many university investigators. The formation of GLA may be blocked by a typical western diet and can be interrupted by stress, excess alcohol, smoking, poor eating and a number of commonly occurring diseases. Under these conditions, Efamol scientists found that there may be considerable advantages to supplying preformed GLA to the body directly using EPO. Efamol scientists investigated using other sources of GLA such as borage oil and blackcurrant oil which have a higher GLA content, but found the GLA from evening primrose oil to be the most biologically active.

[ Efamol | Leaders in EFAs | Important EFAs ]