Fatty Acids and You! Hey you! Looking to change your diet, clean those arteries, and become a better you? Well, you’ve stumbled upon the right article. Let’s talk about fatty acids in everyday foods. To start, a fatty acid is merely a carboxylic group (COOH) attached to a rather large hydrocarbon chain (represented by generic R). This carbon chain attached to the carboxylic will determine what type of fatty acid our body will have to deal with! An alkane carbon structure, classifies as a Saturated Fatty Acid, consuming large portions of alkenes causes fat to develop! Unsaturated fatty acids, which contain alkenes, are the main distinction between eating healthy or not. Cholesterol is the focus of our discussion at this point, as if treaded carefully can help you avoid many unfortunate conditions, such as blood clots, congested arteries, heart disease, and much more. There are two types of cholesterol we will be dealing with, and they are known as LDL and HDL. * LDL (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also called "bad" cholesterol) * HDL (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also called "good" cholesterol) Our Alkene styled fatty acids are known as unsaturated fatty acids. Its molecular orientation determines the effect of your cholesterol levels. These orientations in the image below are known as mono unsaturated fatty acids, as they contains a single double bond. The ‘Cis’ orientations are known as beneficiary fatty acids; a well-balanced diet should contain these kinds of fats, as they both help lower and maintain the LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, while boosting your HDL (good cholesterol). The HDL helps by taking the bad cholesterol out of your blood stream to prevent clots, and clouded arteries. These fatty acids bond with a tri-hydroxyl alcohol, commonly described is Glycerol (also known as propantriol), which forms a triglyceride. A triglyceride is a formation of three ester compounds created with the acid of the reaction to the glycerol . In the diagram below, you can see a ratio of 3:1 of Carboxylic Acids bonding with Glycerol. For the readers at home, a table has been prepared comparing the fatty acid content of many household oils. This will help you compare Olive and Coconut Oil.
Olive Oil (Per Serving) * 1.9 g saturated * 9.9 g monounsaturated * 1.4 g polyunsaturated
Coconut Oil (Per Serving) * 11.8 g are saturated * 0.8 g monounsaturated * 0.2 g polyunsaturated
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To recap our fatty acids, we have: * Saturated Fatty Acids * Neutral in moderation, helps maintain cholesterol in both LDL and HDL * Because molecular configuration is non-polar, insoluble in the water of our body; hence saturated