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Omega-6 and omega-3 PUFA play a crucial role in heart and brain function andin normal growth and development.PUFA are "essential" fats that your bodyneeds but can't produce, so you must get them from food."Of course, as with any news about a single nutrient, it's important toremember to focus on an overall healthy dietary pattern - one nutrient or onetype of food isn't a cure-all," said William Harris, Ph.D., lead author of theadvisory."Our goal was simply to let Americans know that foods containingomega-6 fatty acids can be part of a healthy diet, and can even help improveyour cardiovascular risk profile."The American Heart Association's dietary recommendations suggest a broadlydefined healthy eating pattern over time - with an emphasis on fruits,vegetables, high-fiber whole grains, lean meat, poultry, and fish twice aweek.Diets rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains have been associatedin a large number of studies with reduced cardiovascular risk.Linoleic acid (LA) is the main omega-6 fatty acid in foods, accounting for 85percent to 90 percent of the dietary omega-6 PUFA. There has been some debate within the nutrition community regarding thebenefits of omega-6 based on the belief that they may promote inflammation,thus increasing cardiovascular risk."That idea is based more on assumptionsand extrapolations than on hard data," said Harris, a research professor forthe Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota and directorof the Metabolism and Nutrition Research Center at Sanford Research/USDThe linking of omega-6 intake to inflammation stems from the fact thatarachidonic acid (AA), which can be formed from LA, is involved in the earlystages of inflammation.However, the advisory explains that AA and LA alsogive rise to anti-inflammatory molecules.For example, in the cells that form the lining of blood vessels, omega-6 PUFAhave anti-inflammatory properties, suppressing the production of adhesionmolecules, chemokines and interleukins - all of which are key mediators of theatherosclerotic process."Thus, it is incorrect to view the omega-6 fattyacids as 'pro-inflammatory,'" Harris explained."Eating less LA will notlower tissue levels of AA (the usual rationale for reducing LA intakes)because the body tightly regulates the synthesis of AA from LA."The advisory reviewed a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials, andmore than two dozen observational, cohort, case/control and ecologicalreports.Observational studies showed that people who ate the most omega-6 fatty acidsusually had the least heart disease.Other studies examined blood levels ofomega-6 in heart patients compared with healthy people and found that patientswith heart disease had lower levels of omega-6 in their blood.In controlled trials in which researchers randomly assigned people to consumediets containing high versus low levels of omega-6 and then recorded thenumber of heart attacks over several years, those assigned to the higheromega-6 diets had less heart disease.A meta-analysis of several trials indicated that replacing saturated fats withPUFA lowered risk for heart disease events by 24 percent."When saturated fatin the diet is replaced by omega-6 PUFA, the blood cholesterol levels godown," Harris said."This may be part of the reason why higher omega-6 dietsare heart-healthy."Co-authors are: Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D.; Eric Rimm, D.Sc.; PennyKris-Etherton, Ph.D.; Lawrence Rudel, Ph.D.; Lawrence Appel, M.D.; MargueriteEngler, Ph.D.; Mary Engler, Ph.D.; and Frank Sacks, M.D.Author disclosuresare on the manuscript.For more on good fats vs bad fats, visit AmericanHeart /FacetheFats. The American Heart Association receives funding primarily from individuals,foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturersand other companies) also make donations and fund specific associationprograms and events.The association has strict policies to prevent theserelationships from influencing the science content.Revenues frompharmaceutical and device corporations are disclosed at other information, call:Maggie Francis: (214) 706-1382Julie Del Barto (broadcast): (214) 706-1330SOURCEAmerican Heart AssociationMaggie Francis, 1-214-706-1382, or Julie Del Barto (broadcast),1-214-706-1330, both of American Heart Association. (Recasts; adds board member, CFO comments) Stocks Mergers & Acquisitions By Peter Starck FRANKFURT, Jan 26 (Reuters) - German stock exchangeoperator Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE), which came close tomerging with New York stock exchange operator NYSE Euronext(NYX.N) (NYX.PA) just two months ago, sees ongoingconsolidation in the industry. "The consolidation of stock exchanges is set to continue,"Deutsche Boerse Chief Executive Reto Francioni said in a speechthe company's annual reception for clients and partners onMonday.

He did not mention merger talks between Boerse and NYSElate in 2008 reported by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine onDec. 6 but a Boerse supervisory board member told Reuters onMonday that the two companies had been very close to striking adeal, with a tie-up scheduled for early 2009. Asked by Reuters to comment on how close a potential dealhad been, Boerse Chief Financial Officer Thomas Eichelmann, whoattended Monday's event, declined to comment. Exchanges are underpressure to achieve economies of scale and provide large enoughliquidity pools to fend off fierce competition from alternativetrading platforms, many of which offer cut-throat tradingfees. When the Der Spiegel article about the merger plan waspublished, both companies declined to comment Boerse, however,in a Dec. 7 statement said: "If such talks were held with NYSE,they have ended without any result." The Boerse supervisory board member, who spoke on conditionof anonymity, said media attention had spoiled the deal "But never mind. We are paying a dividend for 2008 and wewill also pay a dividend for this year," the board membersaid.

Francioni said that as far as Boerse was concerned,"consolidation remains only one option for growth" and thatorganic growth was the group's top priority. MODEL STANDS Boerse, whose shares fell more than 60 percent amid lastyear's financial markets turmoil and have lost a further 20percent so far in 2009, stands by its integrated business modelcombining cash equities and derivatives trading with clearingand settlement, he said. "Given the current market environment, we have to hold onto the integrated model more than ever in fact we intend toexpand it," Francioni said, adding that Boerse plans to buildout its clearing services in the off-exchange, orover-the-counter (OTC), trading area. "Central clearing for off-exchange derivative transactionswould improve the integrity of the financial market and avoidthe trap of over-regulation," he said Activist investment funds TCI of Britain and U.S. Atticus,which together own almost 20 percent of Boerse and have seenthe value of their holdings nosedive, called last year on theGerman company to take action to boost shareholder value. Industry analysts said at the time that moves favoured bythe funds to unlock cash could include Boerse divesting itscash equities business or a spin-off of parts or all of itscustody and settlement house Clearstream.

The supervisory board member said Boerse was not threatenedby the market environment, however bleak, but from within bytop managers who are paying too much heed to the funds'priorities. Boerse's shares rose 3.9 percent in the electronic Xetrasystem but trimmed the gains in after-hours trading on theFrankfurt floor (DB1Gn.F) to close just 0.8 percent higher. Boerse is valued at 7.1 times estimated 2009 earnings, adiscount to NYSE Euronext's P/E of 7.5 and the LSE's 7.8. TheEuropean diversified financials sector trades at on average 8.9times estimated 2009 earnings. "Boerse is extremely attractive given its valuation andfree cash flow generation. ) Now that the game is over, its time to round up all the predictions and see who was the most accurate, and who was way off. Did the average of every game turn out to be right Well see how it turned out. Georgia at Tennessee Predictions WebsiteUGA ScoreUT ScoreMy Prediction1721Rocky Top Talk2430UT Bleacher Report1724Bubba n Earl3117SEC Sports Report2716SEC Rivals1416SEC Sports Hub2623Average22 (22.2)21 Actual scoreGeorgia 19, Tennessee 45Blogs that predicted the right winner: Rocky Top Talk, UT Bleacher Report, SEC Rivals, My PredictionLeast Accurate Away Team Points: Bubba n Earl 31 (12) Least Accurate Home Team Points: SEC Sports Report 16 (-29), SEC Rivals 16 (-29) Least Accurate Overall: Bubba n Earl 40 points off total (12 UGA, 28 UT)Most Accurate Away Team Points: UT Bleacher Report 17 (-2) Most Accurate Home Team Points: Rocky Top Talk 30 (-15) Most Accurate Overall: Rocky Top Talk 20 points off total (5 UGA, 15 UT) Congratulations to Rocky Top Talk for having the most accurate prediction for the second week in a row. Im going to have to start stealing their predictions, haha! Its hilarious to see that the closest prediction to Tennessees 45 points was 15 points off. I know I never would have guessed it. How did the average doThe average of all blogs had the score at 22-21, a very close game. This week, that wasnt close at all. The average was off by 27 points total, so all of us bloggers werent even close to predicting the score correctly.Last week against Auburn, most everyone picked the game very close to what the actual score was, so the average was almost exactly right. This week, we were all surprised by a Tennessee offense that ran over Georgia like an 18-wheeler over a squirrel.If anyone else has a blog and wants to be included in this list, either leave a comment with a link to your blog or send me an email. This article is also featured on A Vol Voice.