DHA IS NOT JUST A FAT PART 4 · Castore: Built to Adapt

DHA IS NOT JUST A FAT PART 4

WHEN OMEGA-6 BREAKS THE CIRCUIT: INFLAMMATION AS CORRUPTED ELECTRON SIGNALING

By now, we’ve reframed DHA as a conductor, plasmalogens as buffers, and mitochondrial membranes as electrical control surfaces. With that framework in place, we can finally talk about inflammation in a way that makes sense.

This part may challenge some deeply held assumptions.

Inflammation is rarely the primary problem. It is usually the visible consequence of corrupted electron flow.

Omega-6 fatty acids sit at the center of this misunderstanding.

Omega-6 fats are often described as “pro-inflammatory,” while omega-3s are described as “anti-inflammatory.” That language is convenient, but it hides the real issue. Omega-6 fats are not inherently inflammatory. They are chemically reactive and electronically unstable under modern conditions. That distinction matters.

Arachidonic acid, the most discussed omega-6 fatty acid, is highly unsaturated. Like DHA, it contains multiple double bonds. But the pattern of those bonds, their spatial organization, and their interaction with the surrounding membrane environment lead to very different behavior.

DHA supports long-range, smooth electron movement along membranes.

Omega-6 fats tend to produce short-range, burst-like electron reactions.

In practical terms, DHA behaves like a controlled transmission line. Omega-6 dominance behaves like a spark generator. This is not a moral judgment. It is physics. When omega-6 fatty acids dominate membrane composition, especially in the absence of sufficient plasmalogens and DHA, electron movement becomes fragmented. Instead of electrons moving coherently across the membrane surface, they jump, react, and terminate prematurely.

These reactions generate lipid peroxides.

Lipid peroxidation is not random damage. It is electron flow gone wrong. The system attempts to move charge, fails to control it, and produces reactive intermediates as a result.

Those intermediates are what the immune system responds to. This is where the confusion begins.

Inflammation is not the cause of the problem. It is the body responding to corrupted signaling. The immune system is acting as a cleanup crew for a circuit that is malfunctioning.

Suppressing inflammation without fixing the circuit is like silencing a fire alarm while leaving the wiring exposed.

This explains why anti-inflammatory interventions so often disappoint. They may reduce pain or swelling temporarily, but the underlying instability remains. Electron noise continues. Peroxidation continues. The alarm eventually returns.

Omega-6 dominance worsens this cycle in several ways.

First, omega-6 fatty acids are highly susceptible to peroxidation in high-flux environments. Modern life is full of such environments: artificial light, psychological stress, endurance training, poor sleep, environmental toxins.

Second, omega-6 breakdown products propagate damage. Once initiated, lipid peroxidation spreads laterally through membranes, altering neighboring lipids and proteins. This degrades membrane coherence further, creating a self-reinforcing loop.

Third, omega-6 metabolites act as strong signaling molecules. Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and thromboxanes are powerful. But power without control creates chaos. These molecules amplify immune signaling, vascular changes, and pain perception downstream of the original electrical failure.

This is why inflammation often feels disproportionate to the apparent trigger. The trigger was not the workout, the meal, or the stressful day. The trigger was an unstable membrane environment that could not handle routine electron flux. Here’s the key contrast.

DHA tolerates high electron flux by redistributing charge smoothly.
Plasmalogens tolerate high electron flux by buffering redox spikes.
Omega-6 dominance tolerates neither.

Instead, omega-6 heavy membranes convert electron stress into chemical stress. This is why people with high omega-6 load often feel “inflamed” in a diffuse, nonspecific way. Joint pain, brain fog, skin issues, gut sensitivity, mood volatility. These are not separate problems. They are expressions of a system generating noise at the membrane level.

This also explains why antioxidants fail long-term. Antioxidants mop up downstream radicals. They do not restore membrane coherence. In some cases, they even interfere with necessary redox signaling, making the system more fragile once the antioxidant effect wears off.

The goal is not to eliminate oxidation. Oxidation is inseparable from life. The goal is to localize and control it.

That is what DHA and plasmalogens do when omega-6 load is reasonable.

When omega-6 overwhelms the membrane, control is lost.

This reframes dietary advice as well. The problem with modern omega-6 intake is not simply quantity. It is context. Seed oils, oxidized fats, and chronic intake without adequate buffering create membranes that are primed for failure under stress.

In a low-stress, low-flux environment, omega-6 may be tolerated. In a high-stress, high-flux environment, it becomes destabilizing.Most modern humans live in the latter.

This also reframes pain. Pain is often treated as a purely inflammatory or neurological phenomenon. But pain frequently correlates with regions of high membrane stress and poor electron handling. Reduce noise, restore buffering, and pain often diminishes without directly targeting pain pathways.

From a performance standpoint, this matters deeply.

Athletes with high omega-6 load often feel inflamed not because they train too hard, but because their membranes convert training stress into chemical chaos instead of adaptation.

From a clinical standpoint, it matters even more. Chronic inflammatory diseases often resist treatment because interventions target immune signaling rather than membrane structure. The immune system is doing its job. The structure it is responding to is compromised.

At this point, it’s important to say something clearly.

Omega-6 fats are not the enemy.

Unbuffered, excessive omega-6 dominance is the problem.

Biology uses omega-6 signaling intentionally. But like any powerful signal, it requires containment. DHA and plasmalogens provide that containment. Without them, omega-6 signaling becomes pathological. This also explains why reducing omega-6 intake alone is not sufficient for recovery. Removal of destabilizing input is necessary, but restoration of membrane architecture is what allows resilience to return. In other words, you don’t just remove sparks. You rebuild the insulation and grounding.

This sets the stage for the next and final part of this series.

So far, we have covered structure, buffering, mitochondria, and failure modes. In Part Five, we will zoom out and integrate everything into perception, posture, cognition, training, and longevity. We’ll show how membrane health governs not just cellular function, but how the entire organism experiences and adapts to the world.

For now, the takeaway is this.Inflammation is not the enemy.It is the signal that the circuit is broken.Fix the circuit, and inflammation quiets on its own.That is not suppression.That is resolution.

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