Essential fatty acids are like this

People's bodies need many nutrients to maintain normal metabolism. Some elements can be synthesized by the body itself, while others must be taken in from the outside. Essential fatty acids are substances that must be obtained through external diet to maintain the body's metabolism and play a vital role in human health.

1. Essential fatty acids

Essential fatty acids refer to fatty acids that are indispensable to the human body to maintain normal metabolism but cannot be synthesized by the human body itself, or the synthesis rate is too slow to meet the body's needs and must be supplied through food. Essential fatty acids not only attract water to moisturize skin cells, but also prevent water loss.

It is an important component of phospholipids and maintains normal visual function. It is the body's lubricating oil and at least 2.2-4.4 grams should be consumed daily. There are two main types of essential fatty acids, one is α-linolenic acid in the ω-3 series, and the other is linoleic acid in the ω-6 series.

The amount of essential fatty acids can affect our growth retardation, reproductive disorders, damage to our skin, and various diseases of our kidneys, liver, nerves and vision.

2. The role of essential fatty acids

Function

1. It is an important component of phospholipids.

2. It is a precursor substance for the synthesis of eicosanoids such as prostaglandins (PG), thromboxane (TXA) and leukotriene (LT).

3. Related to the metabolism of cholesterol.

4. Participate in the formation of animal sperm.

5. Maintain normal visual function DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a derivative of α-linolenic acid, is an essential fatty acid for maintaining the function of retinal photoreceptors; it can protect the skin from radiation damage.

Animal Lack

Animals lacking EFA show a series of pathological changes. Rats, pigs, chickens, fish, and young ruminants are deficient in EFAs.

The main manifestation is that it will cause damage to the skin, the appearance of keratin scales, lead to the loss of water in our body, fragile capillaries, decreased immunity, stunted growth, decreased fertility, reduced milk production, and even death. Young, rapidly growing animals are more sensitive.

The biochemical changes caused by EFA deficiency show similar patterns in various animals, showing a decrease in the proportion of linoleic acid series fatty acids in the body, especially a decrease in the content of some phospholipids. The C20:4 of the ω-6 series decreased significantly, the internal molecular conversion of the ω-9 series increased, the C20:3 of the ω-9 series accumulated significantly, and the ratio of C20:3ω9/C20:4ω6 increased significantly. This ratio is called the trienoic acid to tetraenoic acid ratio.

Studies have shown that this ratio can reflect to a certain extent the extent to which the body's EFA needs are met, so it has been widely used as an indicator to determine whether EFA is deficient. A ratio close to 0.4 reflects that C18:2ω6 can meet the minimum requirements.

Experiments with pigs yielded similar results. Therefore, some have suggested using 0.4 as an indicator for determining the minimum linoleic acid requirement for mice and other animals. Metabolic changes at the cellular level indicate that EFA deficiency affects phospholipid metabolism, causing abnormal membrane structure, changes in permeability, and obstruction of the formation of lipoproteins in the membrane and the transport of fat.