Evening Primrose- Ner ha-laila

The flowers open after sunset or bloom on dark,cloudy days……this explains the name.

The whole theory connected with the various edible oils/ fats is quite complicated ,but today I will try to explain some simple principles only and the discuss some aspects of as special plant :evening primrose or "ner ha-laila", useful in many conditions.

A century ago or less nobody had to deal with theoretical issues of fats/oils [who had heard about omega-3,omega 6 etc ??], one was simply eating the right food [if not plagued by poverty]: whole grains, rice, potatoes, vegetables, edible herbs, pulses[legumes], nuts , fruits, olive oil or other proper oils, fish, milk products [fermented or not] ,spices, etc .No processed foods, simply no rubbish.

You have read already a lot about fish oils probably [omega-3], our grandfathers would no know what this was.

The seed oil of evening prim rose- ner ha-laila in Hebrew-has been used as a supplement for many years. It contains at least one of the two important essential fatty acids : LINOLEIC ACID.

"Essential" : because the body can’t make these fatty acids [as far as is known] and you need to get them from your diet [other fatty acids can be made by the body]

They other important essentially fatty acid is: [alpha]LINOLENIC ACID

So just remember, if you wish: LINOLEIC and LINOLENIC

From these 2 essential fatty acids- LINOLEIC/LINOLENIC- various important compound are produced in the body : longer chain fatty acids and prostaglandins [see further]

LINOLEIC ACID….produces………. GLA[also found as such in ner ha-laila]….and this in its turn…….produces………various "omega-1" and "omega-2"-prostaglandins [also known as prostaglandine 1 and 2] and longer chain fats.

LINOLENIC ACID……..produces…. EPA [also found in fish]…..and this produces…… "omega-3" prostaglandins and longer chain fats.

Th production of these longer chain fats and prostaglandins [produced from the 2 essential fatty acids] -as shown above-can-alas- be "blocked" or diminished in various ways, for example by the use of all kind of drugs including the" pill", alcohol, lack of minerals ,improper nutrition, stress etc and for sure by drugs like those used for chemotherapy.

If for example the pathway of LINOLENIC ACID is blocked [LINOLENIC ACID….less production..<<<<……EPA].and not enough EPA can be produced, then –if one does not eat enough fish which contains EPA and by doing so one also does not get the EPA directly from the fish and and also not from the conversion of LINOLENIC ACID to EPA,[because it is “blocked”] then this may result in a lack of "omega -3" prostaglandins with can result in serious diseases like arthritis,cancer,heart disease etc

Prostaglandins have many important functions and a disbalance between the various sorts causes all kind of disease.

If for example drugs block the conversion of LINOLEIC acid so that not enough gammalinoleic [GLA]acid can be formed ,then we may need extra GLA from the oil of evening primrose as a supplement to prevent problems

Breast milk is rich in GLA and no wander that non breast children may suffer from various diseases.[there are many more reasons for this]

.One extremely important role of fats is that they form a major component of all the membranes [walls] in the body cells.[dependent of the sort of fats in the cell wall, the wall may be flexible or stiff and again a good balance in the consumption of the right fats may mean: "no disease".]

So often meat fat is considered to be bad: this is in principle absolute non-sense.

Truly, when cows are fed with grains to fatten them instead of getting proper grass food then indeed the fat they produce may be harming.

Proper grass fed cows produce mainly fats belonging to the omega-3 pathway [just like fish]

In our western society there is a tremendous shift in the proportion of omegas -far to much omega-6 is used and far to little omega-3 !which explains so many chronic diseases.

All the theory above may change a lot in the future with newer insights, not so with traditional food, which is not dependent on theory.

Let’s go back to evening primrose.

The oil -extracted fro the seeds-can be obtained as capsules [500-1000 mg].

Dose : very variable from one to 4 capsules [or even more] per day, to be taken with meals!

Buy a proper brand like Solgar or so [at least in Israel], because with some brands the oil is extracted with toxic material,which is left behind in the oil.

There is hardly any toxicity known form prim rose oil and it can be safely taken even by children[open the capsule]

It is likely to be safe in pregnancy,but ask your doctor first.

There maybe one contra-indication: it should possibly not be taken in patients with temporal epilepsy or patients treated with certain drugs like phenothioazines.

There are many conditions in which primrose oil may be of benefit:

All conditions where drugs are used on a chronic base
eczema, asthma
premenstrual syndrome PMS [painful breasts etc],
possibly alzheimer,
diabetes and diabetic nerve “inflammation” [neuropathy]
arthritis
endometriosis
sjogrens syndrome
schizophrenia
itch caused by uremia
possibly multiple sclerosis
after kidney transplants
chronic fatigue [after viral infections]
extremely important for various cancers, especially breast cancer!!!
GLA kills selectively many cancer cells dramatically and does not harm healthy cells
It is wise to use moderate doses in cancer [one to two gram a day]