Arachidonic Acid (AA): Cell Signaling and Muscle Function

The Fatty Acid Powering Every Cell in Your Body

Most people have never heard of arachidonic acid, and honestly, that’s a little strange when you think about it. This is a fat that sits inside nearly every cell membrane in your body, waiting to be called into action the moment something needs repairing, defending, or building. It doesn’t get the spotlight that omega-3s get. There’s no “Arachidonic Acid Awareness Month,” no wellness influencer holding up a bottle of it next to their morning smoothie. And yet, if you pulled arachidonic acid out of the human body entirely, things would fall apart fast.

Arachidonic acid, often shortened to AA, is a long-chain omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid. Chemically, it’s a 20-carbon fat with four double bonds, which is part of why it’s so reactive and so useful biologically. Fats with fewer double bonds tend to be more stable and structural. Fats like arachidonic acid, with more unsaturation, tend to be more chemically active, meaning your body can quickly convert them into other molecules when needed. That reactivity is exactly why arachidonic acid plays such an outsized role in cell signaling, inflammation, and muscle function, the three things we’re going to spend real time on here.

Here’s the part that surprises people: your body makes arachidonic acid from another fat called linoleic acid, which you get from vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds. But you also take in arachidonic acid directly from animal foods like eggs, poultry, and meat. So unlike some nutrients that are either “made in the body” or “must come from food,” arachidonic acid pulls from both columns. That dual sourcing is one reason nutrition scientists have spent decades arguing about how much of it we actually need, and whether modern diets give us too much, too little, or something in between.

I’ve spent a long time reading through the fatty acid literature, and if there’s one thing that stands out about arachidonic acid, it’s how polarizing it is. Ask a bodybuilding forum about arachidonic acid and you’ll hear about muscle growth, strength gains, and recovery. Ask a cardiologist and you might hear cautionary notes about inflammation and the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Both conversations are grounded in real biology. The fat itself isn’t good or bad. It’s a raw material, and what your body builds with that raw material depends on the rest of the picture: your overall diet, your activity level, your genetics, and how balanced your intake of other fats happens to be.

What makes arachidonic acid genuinely fascinating, at least to me, is its role as a precursor. Think of it less like a finished product and more like lumber sitting in a warehouse. On its own, lumber doesn’t do much. But hand it to the right builder and it becomes a house, a bridge, a chair. Arachidonic acid works the same way. Enzymes in your body grab it and convert it into eicosanoids, a family of signaling molecules that include prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes. These molecules regulate blood clotting, immune responses, pain signaling, and inflammation, sometimes turning these processes up, sometimes turning them down, depending on which specific eicosanoid gets made and where.

That same signaling machinery shows up in a place a lot of people don’t expect: skeletal muscle. When you tear muscle fibers during resistance training, arachidonic acid gets released from cell membranes and converted into prostaglandins that help kick off the repair and growth process. It’s part of why some strength athletes have gotten curious about arachidonic acid supplementation, a topic we’ll dig into with real research rather than gym mythology.

There’s also a structural side to arachidonic acid that gets less attention than the signaling side but matters just as much. It’s a major building block of phospholipids, the fats that make up cell membranes throughout your body, including in your brain. Membrane fluidity, how flexible and functional your cells are at a microscopic level, depends partly on the fatty acid composition of those membranes. Arachidonic acid contributes to that fluidity, which has downstream effects on everything from nerve signaling to how cells communicate with each other.

I want to be upfront about something before we go further: arachidonic acid is not a supplement you need to run out and buy, nor is it something to fear and eliminate from your plate. It’s a fat your body actively wants and uses constantly. The goal of this article isn’t to convince you to load up on it or avoid it entirely. It’s to walk through what the research actually shows, in plain language, so you can make sense of the benefits, the food sources, the dosage questions, and the legitimate risks worth knowing about. Fair warning, some of what follows will contradict things you’ve read on supplement websites. That’s fine. We’re going with what the evidence says, not what sells capsules.

By the end of this, you’ll have a genuinely clear picture of where arachidonic acid fits into human health, without the hype and without the fearmongering. Let’s get into it.

Why Your Body Can’t Function Without Arachidonic Acid

Arachidonic acid earns its keep in the body through a handful of distinct jobs, and it’s worth separating them out because they get lumped together so often in casual conversation. Cell membrane structure, immune signaling, and muscle repair are related, but they’re not the same story, and each one deserves its own explanation.

The Cell Membrane Connection

Every cell in your body is wrapped in a membrane built largely from phospholipids, and arachidonic acid is one of the most common fatty acids found in those phospholipid tails. This isn’t just architecture for architecture’s sake. The fatty acid composition of a membrane determines how fluid or rigid it is, how proteins embedded in that membrane behave, and how efficiently signals pass across it. Cells with more arachidonic acid in their membranes tend to have greater membrane fluidity, which affects things like receptor sensitivity and how quickly a cell can respond to hormonal or chemical signals.

This matters most in tissues that need to respond fast: immune cells, neurons, and muscle cells. When your immune system needs to mobilize quickly against a pathogen, having a ready supply of arachidonic acid sitting in the membrane means the raw material for a rapid signaling response is already there, waiting.

Eicosanoids: The Signaling Molecules Arachidonic Acid Builds

This is where arachidonic acid really shows its range. Once released from a cell membrane, usually by an enzyme called phospholipase A2, arachidonic acid becomes available for conversion into eicosanoids through two main pathways: the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway, which produces prostaglandins and thromboxanes, and the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway, which produces leukotrienes.

These molecules do a lot:

• Prostaglandins regulate inflammation, pain sensitivity, fever response, and blood vessel dilation
• Thromboxanes promote platelet aggregation and blood clotting
• Leukotrienes are heavily involved in immune and allergic responses, including asthma-related inflammation

Here’s the nuance that often gets lost: not all eicosanoids made from arachidonic acid are pro-inflammatory. Some prostaglandins actually help resolve inflammation once its job is done. The old idea that “omega-6 equals inflammation, omega-3 equals anti-inflammation” is an oversimplification. Arachidonic acid-derived molecules participate in both starting and stopping inflammatory processes, which is part of why the research on omega-6 fats and disease risk has produced such mixed results over the years.

Muscle Growth and Recovery

This is the piece that’s gotten popular in strength training circles, and it’s grounded in real physiology, even if the practical benefits are more modest than supplement marketing suggests. During resistance exercise, muscle fibers experience micro-damage, and this triggers the release of arachidonic acid from muscle cell membranes. That arachidonic acid gets converted into prostaglandins, particularly PGF2α and PGE2, which appear to play opposing roles in muscle protein turnover, one leaning toward muscle building, the other toward breakdown, depending on which receptors get activated.

A randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that four weeks of arachidonic acid supplementation in trained men didn’t change the acute muscle protein synthesis response to a single workout, but it did lead to greater ribosome biogenesis and a trend toward more satellite cell activity 48 hours after exercise (Mitchell et al., 2018). Ribosome biogenesis matters because ribosomes are the machinery your muscle cells use to actually build new protein, so more of that machinery can support long-term growth even if it doesn’t show up immediately after one workout.

An earlier study from the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition looked at arachidonic acid supplementation over 50 days in resistance-trained men and found a meaningful increase in anaerobic peak power, along with a blunted rise in the inflammatory marker IL-6 during training, though there weren’t statistically significant changes in strength or overall muscle mass compared to placebo (Roberts et al., 2007). Put those two studies together and you get a realistic picture: arachidonic acid appears to support the signaling and recovery machinery behind muscle adaptation, but it’s not a shortcut to dramatically more muscle. It’s a supporting player, not a headline act.

Brain and Nervous System Support

Arachidonic acid is also one of the most abundant fatty acids in the brain, right alongside DHA, the well-known omega-3. It’s especially important during fetal brain development, which is why it’s added to many infant formulas. In adults, arachidonic acid contributes to neuronal membrane structure and to signaling pathways involved in synaptic plasticity, the process by which neurons strengthen or weaken their connections over time. This is an area where research is still evolving, and I’d rather be honest about that than overstate what’s known. What we can say confidently is that arachidonic acid isn’t just a muscle and immune fat. It’s structurally woven into how your brain is built and how it functions day to day.

Where Arachidonic Acid Actually Comes From

If you’re wondering how to actually get arachidonic acid, or whether you’re getting too much, too little, or just enough, the food source picture is pretty clear once you understand one basic rule.

Animal Foods Are the Only Real Source

Plants cannot make arachidonic acid. It’s produced from a chain of enzymatic conversions that only happens in animal tissue, so unless you’re eating meat, eggs, dairy, or fish, you’re not getting preformed arachidonic acid directly from your plate. Your body can still make some of it from linoleic acid, the omega-6 fat found abundantly in vegetable oils like sunflower, corn, and soybean oil, as well as in nuts and seeds. But that conversion process is inefficient in adults, so direct dietary intake from animal foods remains the primary route for most people who eat a Western-style diet.

Eggs and Poultry: The Biggest Contributors

Across multiple national dietary surveys, chicken and eggs consistently show up as the two largest contributors to arachidonic acid intake. One analysis of the American diet found chicken and chicken-based dishes account for roughly a quarter of total arachidonic acid intake, with eggs following as the second-largest contributor, egg yolks specifically, since arachidonic acid concentrates there rather than in the egg white.

Duck egg yolks and chicken egg yolks are particularly concentrated sources. Analysis of the Australian food supply found arachidonic acid levels of roughly 891 milligrams per 100 grams in duck egg yolk and about 390 milligrams per 100 grams in chicken egg yolk, well above what’s found in most muscle meats (Mann, Johnson, Warrick, & Sinclair, 1995). If you’re someone who eats eggs regularly, you’re likely getting a meaningful chunk of your daily arachidonic acid from breakfast alone.

Red Meat, Organ Meat, and Fish

Muscle meats like beef, pork, and lamb contain arachidonic acid too, though generally in smaller amounts per 100 grams than eggs or poultry. Organ meats, particularly liver and kidney, tend to run higher. The same Australian food composition analysis found liver contained around 294 milligrams per 100 grams and kidney around 153 milligrams, noticeably higher than lean cuts like beef or lamb, which came in closer to 35 to 49 milligrams per 100 grams (Mann et al., 1995).

Fish and seafood contribute arachidonic acid as well, though the amount varies a lot by species. Fatty fish tend to be better known for omega-3s like EPA and DHA, but many still carry some arachidonic acid alongside them.

A few practical patterns worth knowing:

• Dark meat poultry (thighs, drumsticks) generally contains more arachidonic acid than white meat (breast)
• Organ meats are consistently among the richest sources by weight
• Processed meats and cold cuts add up over time even in small portions, simply due to frequency of consumption
• Cooking method and fat trimming can meaningfully change the arachidonic acid content of a serving, since some of it concentrates in fat tissue

I remember looking at one of these food composition tables for the first time and being surprised that a plain turkey sandwich was quietly contributing more arachidonic acid than I’d have guessed, simply because deli meat shows up in someone’s diet three or four times a week. That’s the pattern researchers keep running into. It’s rarely one big dramatic source. It’s the steady drip of ordinary meals, eggs at breakfast, chicken at lunch, a burger on the weekend, that adds up to a person’s total intake over time.

Dairy and Its Smaller but Steady Contribution

Dairy products get overlooked in most conversations about arachidonic acid, but they show up consistently in dietary surveys as a minor, steady contributor. Whole milk, cheese, and butter all contain small amounts of arachidonic acid, nowhere near the concentration you’d find in egg yolk or liver, but frequent enough in a typical diet to add a modest but real contribution to daily totals. This is worth mentioning because people sometimes assume dairy is entirely about calcium and saturated fat, when in reality it’s part of the same animal-fat picture that supplies arachidonic acid throughout the day.

What About Vegetarians and Vegans?

If you don’t eat animal products, you’re not getting meaningful direct dietary arachidonic acid, and that’s generally fine. Your body can synthesize some from linoleic acid, which is abundant in a typical plant-based diet through oils, nuts, and seeds. Research on vegetarians and vegans generally shows lower circulating arachidonic acid levels compared to omnivores, but this hasn’t been clearly linked to negative health outcomes in otherwise well-nourished adults. The body appears to adjust its production based on available precursors, though the efficiency of that conversion can vary from person to person based on genetics, particularly variations in the FADS1 and FADS2 genes that control the enzymes responsible for the conversion.

How Much Arachidonic Acid Do You Actually Need?

This is the question I get asked most, and the honest answer is that there’s no official recommended daily amount for arachidonic acid the way there is for something like vitamin C or calcium. That’s not an oversight. It reflects how the research has actually developed.

Typical Intake Around the World

A review of dietary surveys across multiple countries found that typical arachidonic acid intake in developed nations sits somewhere between 100 and 250 milligrams per day, though intake can run to just tens of milligrams per day in some developing countries where animal food consumption is lower (Kawashima, 2019). A broader analysis covering 175 countries found that roughly 48 percent had estimated arachidonic acid intakes below 150 milligrams per day, which gives you a sense of just how wide the range is globally.

What’s interesting is that intake doesn’t swing around as dramatically as some other nutrients might, since arachidonic acid comes from a wide spread of common animal foods rather than being concentrated in one or two items, the way omega-3s are concentrated in fish.

What Research Says About Supplementation

A systematic review published in the British Journal of Nutrition looked at fourteen randomized controlled trials using arachidonic acid supplementation doses ranging from 80 to 2,000 milligrams per day, lasting anywhere from one to twelve weeks (Calder et al., 2019). The findings were, frankly, less dramatic than supplement marketing would have you believe. Even doses as low as 80 milligrams per day increased arachidonic acid levels in the blood, confirming that supplementation does raise circulating levels. But the review found few clear benefits from pushing intake from the typical 100 to 200 milligrams per day up to 1,000 milligrams per day, and even less benefit at the higher doses of 1,500 or 2,000 milligrams per day.

That same review did flag one area worth watching: a possible impact of arachidonic acid on cognitive and muscle function, particularly relevant for older adults, though the authors were careful to note the evidence wasn’t strong enough yet to make firm recommendations. I appreciate that kind of honesty in research, because it would have been easy to oversell the muscle and brain angle given how popular those topics are.

For context, on the safety side, the same review found no adverse effects on blood lipids, platelet aggregation, blood clotting, immune function, or inflammation markers at intakes up to 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams per day (Calder et al., 2019). That’s a reassuring data point for anyone worried that a slightly higher-than-average intake from food is somehow dangerous. It isn’t, at least not at the doses studied.

Can You Be Deficient in Arachidonic Acid?

True dietary deficiency in adults is rare and not something most people need to worry about, largely because the body can synthesize arachidonic acid from linoleic acid, which is abundant in most diets, including plant-based ones. Where deficiency concerns become more relevant is in infant nutrition, since arachidonic acid plays a structural role in rapid brain and visual development during the first year of life, which is part of why it’s added to most infant formulas alongside DHA.

In adults, low circulating arachidonic acid has occasionally been noted in people with very restrictive diets, certain malabsorption conditions, or specific genetic variations affecting fatty acid metabolism. But for a generally healthy adult eating a varied diet that includes some animal products, or even a well-planned plant-based diet, clinically meaningful arachidonic acid deficiency isn’t something the research points to as a common concern.

Should Athletes Consider Supplementing?

This question comes up a lot, so it’s worth addressing directly. Based on the dosage research reviewed above, most studies looking at potential muscle and recovery benefits used somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 milligrams per day, taken for several weeks, well above what a typical diet provides. If someone is genuinely curious about this, a few things are worth keeping in mind before jumping to a supplement:

• The benefits observed in trials were modest and specific, mostly related to recovery signaling and anaerobic power, not dramatic increases in muscle mass or strength
• Whole-food sources like eggs and poultry already provide arachidonic acid alongside protein, choline, and other nutrients that a purified supplement won’t
• Long-term safety data beyond a few months of supplementation is limited, so anyone considering higher doses over extended periods is operating somewhat ahead of the evidence
• Overall training program, recovery, sleep, and protein intake still matter far more for muscle outcomes than any single fatty acid

I’d rather someone put their energy into consistent training and adequate protein than chase a modest signaling benefit from a fatty acid supplement, but for those already doing the fundamentals well, it’s not an unreasonable thing to experiment with, as long as expectations stay realistic.

When Arachidonic Acid Becomes a Problem

Here’s where things get genuinely nuanced, and where I think a lot of online content oversimplifies in one direction or another. Arachidonic acid isn’t inherently dangerous, but context and balance matter, and there are legitimate reasons some people pay closer attention to their intake.

The Omega-6 to Omega-3 Balance

Arachidonic acid and omega-3 fats like EPA compete for the same enzymes when your body builds eicosanoids. Because of this shared pathway, the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 intake, rather than arachidonic acid intake alone, has become a major focus of research into inflammation and chronic disease risk.

A large UK Biobank study following over 85,000 participants for an average of about 13 years found that a higher ratio of plasma omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids was associated with greater risk of all-cause mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular mortality, with risk increasing as the ratio climbed (Zhang et al., 2024). This doesn’t mean omega-6 fats, or arachidonic acid specifically, are harmful in isolation. It means the balance between omega-6 and omega-3 intake appears to matter more than either one alone.

Similarly, research into the EPA to arachidonic acid ratio in blood has found that a lower ratio, meaning relatively more arachidonic acid compared to EPA, is associated with greater cardiovascular risk markers, and this ratio has been proposed as a clinically useful biomarker for chronic inflammation (Nelson & Raskin, 2019). The takeaway isn’t “avoid arachidonic acid.” It’s that omega-3 intake matters just as much, maybe more, in determining how your body’s inflammatory signaling actually plays out.

Inflammation, Heart Disease, and the Ongoing Debate

This is genuinely one of the more contested areas in nutrition science. For decades, arachidonic acid was cast as the villain behind chronic low-grade inflammation, largely because it’s the precursor to pro-inflammatory eicosanoids. But more recent large-scale analyses have complicated that story considerably.

Some pooled analyses looking at circulating arachidonic acid levels haven’t found the straightforward increase in cardiovascular risk that older hypotheses predicted, and some have even found modest reductions in cardiovascular risk at higher levels within certain population ranges. This doesn’t erase the biology of arachidonic acid as an inflammatory precursor. It suggests the relationship between blood levels, dietary intake, and actual disease outcomes is more complicated than a single fatty acid can explain on its own. Genetics, overall diet quality, activity levels, and the presence or absence of adequate omega-3 intake all shape how arachidonic acid behaves in your body.

I’ll be straightforward here: this is not a settled debate, and anyone telling you it’s simple, in either direction, is probably oversimplifying to make a point. The honest position is that arachidonic acid is one piece of a much larger puzzle involving overall dietary pattern.

Who Should Be Cautious

There are a few groups where extra attention to arachidonic acid and overall fat balance makes practical sense:

• People with existing inflammatory conditions, such as certain autoimmune or rheumatologic diseases, where eicosanoid signaling is already dysregulated
• Individuals with a very high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in their overall diet, often from heavy reliance on processed foods and vegetable oils without much fish or omega-3 intake
• People considering high-dose arachidonic acid supplements for athletic performance, since most of the safety research has focused on doses under 1,500 milligrams per day, and long-term data on higher doses is limited
• Anyone with a personal or family history of cardiovascular disease who is making significant, deliberate changes to their fat intake

None of this amounts to a reason to fear eggs, chicken, or red meat in normal dietary amounts. It’s more a case for paying attention to the bigger picture, particularly your omega-3 intake, rather than fixating on arachidonic acid in isolation.

A Practical Way to Think About Balance

Instead of trying to count milligrams of arachidonic acid, which isn’t practical for most people anyway since food labels don’t list it, a more useful approach is thinking in terms of ratios and patterns. A diet heavy in fried foods, processed snacks, and vegetable-oil-cooked meals, without much fish or omega-3-rich food in the mix, is the kind of pattern associated with a skewed omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in the research. A diet that includes fatty fish a couple of times a week, some walnuts or flaxseed, and a reasonable mix of animal proteins tends to land in a much healthier range without anyone needing to track a single number.

I’ve found it more useful to ask people what they’re eating too little of, rather than what they should cut out. Most diets aren’t overloaded with arachidonic acid specifically. They’re often just short on omega-3s, and that gap is what tips the balance, not the presence of eggs or chicken on the plate.

Making Peace With a Misunderstood Fat

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably noticed a theme: arachidonic acid resists the simple story. It’s not a miracle muscle builder, and it’s not a dietary villain either. It’s a structural and signaling fat that your body actively needs, sourced partly from food and partly from your own internal chemistry, doing quiet, essential work in your cell membranes, your immune system, your brain, and your muscles every single day.

What the research actually supports is fairly grounded. Arachidonic acid is a precursor to eicosanoids that regulate inflammation, blood clotting, and pain signaling, some of which promote inflammation and some of which help resolve it. It plays a genuine, if modest, role in muscle recovery and adaptation after resistance training, largely by supporting the signaling and cellular machinery involved in repair rather than acting as some kind of anabolic switch. Typical dietary intake, largely from eggs, poultry, and meat, sits in the range of 100 to 250 milligrams a day for most people in developed countries, and supplementing well beyond that hasn’t shown the dramatic benefits that some corners of the internet suggest. On the risk side, the concern isn’t arachidonic acid by itself so much as the broader balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fats in your overall diet.

If I had to boil this down into practical takeaways, they’d look something like this. If you eat eggs, poultry, meat, or fish regularly, you’re almost certainly getting adequate arachidonic acid without needing to think about it further. If you eat a plant-based diet, your body can still produce what it needs from linoleic acid, and clinically meaningful deficiency isn’t something the evidence points to as a common problem. If you’re weighing a supplement for athletic performance, know that the research shows modest, specific benefits, mostly around recovery signaling and anaerobic power, rather than dramatic strength or muscle gains. And regardless of how much arachidonic acid you’re taking in, pay attention to your omega-3 intake too, since the ratio between the two appears to matter more for long-term health outcomes than arachidonic acid intake in isolation.

There’s a certain irony in how much attention omega-3s get while arachidonic acid quietly does its structural and signaling work in the background. It deserves a more balanced reputation than it usually gets, not glorified, not demonized, just understood for what it is: a fat your body genuinely relies on, in the right proportion, alongside the rest of your diet.

One last thing worth sitting with. Nutrition science has a habit of turning individual nutrients into heroes or villains, largely because that framing is easier to sell than nuance. Arachidonic acid has gone through both phases over the past few decades, first as an overlooked structural fat, then as a suspected driver of chronic inflammation, and now, as the research matures, as something closer to what it actually is: one contributor among many to how your body manages repair, defense, and signaling. It doesn’t act alone, and it was never going to be explained by a single number on a label.

If you take one thing away from all of this, let it be a shift in framing rather than a specific rule. Instead of asking “is arachidonic acid good or bad,” a more useful question is “does my overall diet give my body what it needs to use this fat well.” That means enough omega-3s to keep the signaling balance in check, enough variety in your protein sources that you’re not relying on one or two foods for the bulk of your fat intake, and enough attention to your training and recovery if muscle performance is part of why you’re reading this in the first place. Arachidonic acid was never going to be the star of the show. It’s the reliable supporting actor that shows up in nearly every scene, doing work that mostly goes unnoticed until you actually stop and look for it.

Article Sources

At AncientHerbsWisdom, our content relies on reputable sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to substantiate the information presented in our articles. Our primary objective is to ensure our content is thoroughly fact-checked, maintaining a commitment to accuracy, reliability, and trustworthiness.

1. Calder, P. C., Campoy, C., Eilander, A., Fleith, M., Forsyth, S., Larsson, P.-O., Schelkle, B., Lohner, S., Szommer, A., van de Heijning, B. J. M., & Mensink, R. P. (2019). A systematic review of the effects of increasing arachidonic acid intake on PUFA status, metabolism and health-related outcomes in humans. British Journal of Nutrition, 121(11), 1201–1214. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114519000692 
2. Kawashima, H. (2019). Intake of arachidonic acid-containing lipids in adult humans: dietary surveys and clinical trials. Lipids in Health and Disease, 18(1), 101. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12944-019-1039-y 
3. Mann, N. J., Johnson, L. G., Warrick, G. E., & Sinclair, A. J. (1995). The arachidonic acid content of the Australian diet is lower than previously estimated. The Journal of Nutrition, 125(10), 2528–2535. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/125.10.2528 
4. Mitchell, C. J., D’Souza, R. F., Figueiredo, V. C., Chan, A., Aasen, K., Durainayagam, B., Mitchell, S., Sinclair, A. J., Egner, I. M., Raastad, T., Cameron-Smith, D., & Markworth, J. F. (2018). Effect of dietary arachidonic acid supplementation on acute muscle adaptive responses to resistance exercise in trained men: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Applied Physiology, 124(4), 1080–1091. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.01100.2017 
5. Nelson, J. R., & Raskin, S. (2019). The eicosapentaenoic acid:arachidonic acid ratio and its clinical utility in cardiovascular disease. Postgraduate Medicine, 131(4), 268–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/00325481.2019.1607414 
6. Roberts, M. D., Iosia, M., Kerksick, C. M., Taylor, L. W., Campbell, B., Wilborn, C. D., Harvey, T., Cooke, M., Rasmussen, C., Greenwood, M., Wilson, R., Jitomir, J., Willoughby, D., & Kreider, R. B. (2007). Effects of arachidonic acid supplementation on training adaptations in resistance-trained males. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 4, 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-4-21 
7. Zhang, Y., Sun, Y., Yu, Q., Song, S., Brenna, J. T., Shen, Y., & Ye, K. (2024). Higher ratio of plasma omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is associated with greater risk of all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality: A population-based cohort study in UK Biobank. eLife, 12, RP90132. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.90132