“This poses several intriguing questions, not the least of which is: Why does something that’s not supposed to be there show up in sick vets?”

The reporter who wrote this article should be ashamed for spewing out such nonsense. EVERY human being produces squalene using an enzyme named squalene synthase. Squalene SHOULD be found in humans.

Squalene itself is ENDOGENOUS to the human body. Every human being should have squalene in them and should be producing squalene.

Furthermore, the research did not look for squalene in Gulf War vets, but looked for (and found) anti-bodies in squalene.

A correlation between the presence of antisqualene antibodies (ASA) in those with Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) was discovered (Asa et al., 2000). Specifically, those who received anthrax vaccine were also noted to have ASA (Asa et al., 2002). These findings suggested to Asa & Garry that administration of exogenous squalene leads to GWS, a putative autoimmune disorder, which they discuss in their patent (Asa & Garry, 2001).

Perhaps the most relevant evidence linking squalene to GWS comes from research done on rats (Carlson et al., 2000). Arthritis was induced in rats by injecting squalene in dose/bodyweight ratios that are 2000 times larger than a human receiving a single dose of AS03 adjuvanted vaccine.

None of the evidence shows that squalene itself or ASA have any causal role in GWS. Some articles examine links between specific exposures and GWS (Gray et al., 2002). Some suggest GWS is an autoimmune problem, possibly caused by vaccine exposure or exposure to other substances (Peakman et al., 2006; Vojdani and Thrasher, 2004). Others even suggest that GWS is psychosomatic.

If you take a look at Asa&Garry’s (2002) patent, look at the research they cite and you’ll see that the papers they refer to do NOT find a correlation between autoimmune problems and squalene. In fact, it is another substance that is correlated with autoimmune problems in the literature they cite.

Olive oil is 0.7% squalene (Waterman et al., 2007). Evidence suggests that 60 – 85% of oral squalene is absorbed (Kelly, 1999). A study on the effect of feeding people 900 mg of squalene daily for between 7 to 30 days shows increased squalene in serum (Strandberg et al., 1990). It has been suggested that the benefits of a Mediterranean diet are partly due to squalene (Newmark, 1997).

Consider a tablespoon of olive oil. Its density is about 0.9 g/mL, so a tablespoon is 14.5 g. At 0.7%, it has 101.5 mg of squalene. Assuming 60% absorbtion of squalene, each tablespoon leads to absorbtion of about 60 mg of squalene.

A dose of Arepanrix and other AS03 adjuvanted vaccines has 10.68 mg of squalene. A tablespoon of olive oil, leads to absorbtion of about 6 times as much squalene. Consider how much olive oil is in a Mediterranean diet.

There is no good evidence that squalene is toxic.

Squalene is NOT synthetic (not that this matters – whether something is produced in nautre or a lab does not determine its toxicity)

REFERENCES

Asa PB, Cao Y, Garry RF. (2000) Antibodies to squalene in GulfWar syndrome. Exp Mol Pathol. 68: 55 – 64.

Asa PB, Garry RF (inventors). (April 2001) Method for detecting anti-squalene antibodies. US patent # 6214566.

Asa PB, Wilson RB, Garry RF. (2002) Antibodies to squalene in recipients of anthrax vaccine. Exp Mol Pathol. 73: 19 – 27.

Carlson BC, Jansson AM, Larsson A, Bucht A, Lorentzen JC. (2000) The endogenous adjuvant squalene can induce a chronic T-cell-mediated arthritis in rats. Am J Pathol. 156: 2057 – 2065.

Gray GC, Reed RJ, Kaiser KS, Smith TC, Gastañaga VM. (2002) Self-reported symptoms and medical conditions among 11,868 Gulf War-era veterans: the Seabee Health Study. Am J Epidemiol. 155: 1033 – 1044.

Kelly GS. (1999) Squalene and its potential clinical uses. Altern Med Rev. 4: 29 – 36.
[http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/4/1/29.pdf]

Newmark HL. (1997) Squalene, olive oil, and cancer risk: a review and hypothesis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 6: 1101 – 1103.
[http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/6/12/1101.full.pdf]

Phillips CJ, Matyas GR, Hansen CJ, Alving CR, Smith TC, Ryan MA. (2009) Antibodies to squalene in US Navy Persian Gulf War veterans with chronic multisymptom illness. Vaccine. 27: 3921 – 3926.

Strandberg TE, Tilvis RS, Miettinen TA. (1990) Metabolic variables of cholesterol during squalene feeding in humans: comparison with cholestyramine treatment. J Lipid Res. 31: 1637 – 1643.
[http://www.jlr.org/cgi/reprint/31/9/1637.pdf]

Vojdani A and Thrasher JD. (2004) Cellular and humoral immune abnormalities in Gulf War veterans. Environ Health Perspect. 112: 840 – 846.

Waterman E, Lockwood B. (2007) Active components and clinical applications of olive oil. Altern Med Rev. 12: 331 – 342.
[http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/12/4/331.pdf]