Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In biochemistry and nutrition, a polyunsaturated fat is a fat that contains a polyunsaturated fatty acid (abbreviated PUFA), which is a subclass of fatty acid characterized by a backbone with two or more carbon–carbon double bonds. [1] [2] Some polyunsaturated fatty acids are essentials.
Thus, for example, the 20-carbon arachidonic acid is Δ 5,8,11,14, meaning that it has double bonds between carbons 5 and 6, 8 and 9, 11 and 12, and 14 and 15. In the context of human diet and fat metabolism, unsaturated fatty acids are often classified by the position of the double bond closest between to the ω carbon (only), even in the case ...
This advice is often oversimplified by labeling the two kinds of fats as bad fats and good fats, respectively. However, since the fats and oils in most natural and traditionally processed foods contain both unsaturated and saturated fatty acids, [72] the complete exclusion of saturated fat is unrealistic and possibly unwise. For instance, some ...
Omega−6 and omega−3 eighteen-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids compete for the same metabolic enzymes, thus the omega−6:omega−3 ratio of ingested fatty acids has significant influence on the ratio and rate of production of eicosanoids, a group of hormones intimately involved in the body's inflammatory and homeostatic processes, which ...
The evening primrose flower (O. biennis) produces an oil containing a high content of γ-linolenic acid, a type of omega−6 fatty acid.Omega−6 fatty acids (also referred to as ω−6 fatty acids or n−6 fatty acids) are a family of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) that share a final carbon-carbon double bond in the n−6 position, that is, the sixth bond, counting from the methyl end.
Arachidonic acid (AA, sometimes ARA) is a polyunsaturated omega−6 fatty acid 20:4(ω−6), or 20:4(5,8,11,14). [2] [3] If its precursors or diet contains linoleic acid it is formed by biosynthesis and can be deposited in animal fats. It is a precursor in the formation of leukotrienes, prostaglandins, and thromboxanes. [4]
Fatty acid desaturases (also called unsaturases) are a family of enzymes that convert saturated fatty acids into unsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids.For the common fatty acids of the C18 variety, desaturases convert stearic acid into oleic acid.
An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is at least one double bond within the fatty acid chain. A fatty acid chain is monounsaturated if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond.