site of a carbon chain has been bonded with a hydrogen atom, the chain—or
fat—is considered saturated. These are generally considered long-chain fatty
acids and because of their more complete, or “full,” bonding they become
harder and have a higher melting point. In other words, the more saturated a
fat is, the more it stays hard at room temperature. Unsaturated fats, on the
other hand, have less hydrogen bonding. When two or more adjacent carbon
atoms are free of hydrogen bonding they are considered monounsaturated
fatty acids. When two or more pairs or “sets” of carbon atoms within the
chain are unbonded to hydrogen, we call these polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Three of the most common fatty acid chains found in human tissues are
oleic acid (C 18 H 3402 ), stearic acid (C 18 H 3602 ), and palmitic acid (C 16 H 3202 ).
These three fatty acids when combined with glycerol form the three basic fats
found in our foods, and are called triolein, tristearin and tripalmitin.
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS
The fatty acids that are essential to your body, but not naturally synthesized
within the body, must therefore be obtained from your diet. These are known
as essential fatty acids, and there are three basic ones: linoleic acid, linolenic
acid and arachidonic acid. Linoleic acid is the most vital of the three as it can
be converted into linolenic and arachidonic acids. In my opinion, humanity
(through the medium of science) is in its infancy in understanding the true
needs of our homo sapien bodies. Types of essential fatty acids include:
LINOLEIC ACID—Promotes healthy skin and hair and is the main essential