The Health Benefits of Essential Fats

The excess intake of fats is almost universally consented to by health specialists to predispose the body to numerous health conditions despite its function as an essential source of nourishment. Likewise, regardless of the fact that different types of dietary fats have different kinds of influences on blood cholesterol amounts, the truth of the matter remains that food which are full of fat are thought to be "calorie-dense" and that an increased consumption will surely produce weight gain.

It is on the other hand necessary at this stage to point out that not all fats are that bad and that some of them are extremely important and actually deemed essential for ideal performance of the human body. Apart from their use as a source of energy for the human body, a form of dietary fat referred to as the essential fatty acids (also called EFAs), are as an illustration utilized to create the steroid hormones - progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen, and the hormone-like prostaglandins - a fatty acid by-product found in just about all tissues in the human body. Prostaglandins assist in the relief of migraine headaches, hypertension, and arthritis.

Dietary fats are in general grouped according to the chemical structure of their constituent fatty acids (which are chain-like molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen). Depending on their chemical composition, fatty acids are usually regarded as being either unsaturated or saturated. The degree of saturation or otherwise is actually a function of the length and actual number of hydrogen atoms attached with a carbon chain in the formation of the fatty acid.

Saturated Fats
These types of fats have single bonds between the carbon atoms which constitute their tail and they are deemed to be "saturated" or "full" as they cannot use up any more hydrogen atom. Saturated fats are principally found in fat-containing foods of animal origin such as fatty meats (e.g. lamb, ham, beef, and pork), egg yolks, poultry, and dairy products. Also, they are found in plant sources like coconut oil and palm kernel oil - which are known as "tropical oils".

Another type of saturated fat known as trans fatty acids are a product of the hydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids where the unsaturated fat is treated by the addition of hydrogen atoms to make them solid and much more stable at room temperature. High ingestion of both of these saturated types of fats heightens a person's risk of coronary artery disease.

Unsaturated Fats
The chemical makeup of unsaturated fatty acids is such that they have one or more double bonds in between their carbon atoms. There are two kinds of unsaturated fatty acids which are the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In a monounsaturated fat molecule, one pair of hydrogen atom is actually absent while on the other hand there is more than one pair of hydrogen atom absent in a polyunsaturated fat.

Monounsaturated Fats
These are fatty acids in which the molecules contain just one single double-bonded carbon in such a way that each carbon atom of the double bond does not have one pair of hydrogen atom. They are therefore not "full" or "saturated" and have the capability to connect with one pair of hydrogen atom.

Monounsaturated fat sources include peanut oil, palm oil, almonds, olive oil, and canola oil. Monounsaturated dietary fats are considered to be the most healthy of dietary fats and are generally known to lower LDL "bad" cholesterol and boost HDL "good" cholesterol amounts.

The Essential Fatty Acids
Polyunsaturated dietary fats are comprised largely of the fatty acids referred to as Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs). Although these fats are necessary for specific biological processes, they nevertheless can’t be made by the body and therefore need to be obtained from ingested foods.

Polyunsaturated dietary fats have a chemical design which has many double bonds in every molecule shaped in such a way that four or more carbon atoms can be bond together with hydrogen atoms. They therefore lack two or more pairs of hydrogen atoms in their carbon chain and therefore they are usually soft at room temperature. This soft chemical characteristic of polyunsaturated dietary fats is due to the fact that there is a little bend where their double bond is situated.

These dietary fats have one essential fatty acid from which all the other fatty acids within the body can be made from. The conversion of these essential fatty acids (short-chain fatty acids) into longer-chain fatty acids aids in the production of some critical compounds needed by the body including hormones, blood clotting agents, and substances involved in both inflammatory and immune responses. Fundamentally, just about every living cell inside the human body needs essential fatty acids so as to reconstruct and make completely new cells.

Types of Essential Fatty Acids
EFAs are broken down further into two groups - the linolenic acid (Omega-6s) and the alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3s). Omega-3 fatty acids are so-called simply because their first double bond of linolenic acid is found at the third carbon while the Omega-6 fatty acids are likewise so-called given that the first double bond of the linolenic acid is positioned at the sixth carbon.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids
These fatty acids are believed to carry out essential roles in both eye and brain functions and also have a positive influence on coronary heart health because they are often considered to lower the levels of triglycerides in the body. Oily fish such as Mackerel, Salmon, Sardines, and Herring have a high-fat content and supply more Omega-3 fats than several other fish. Omega-3 fats are also found in vegetable oils such as canola, flaxseed, and walnut oil.

Omega-6 Fatty Acids
Omega-6 fats have been demonstrated to be helpful in decreasing the occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) since they slow the build-up of cholesterol within the arteries of the heart. Raw nuts, seeds, legumes, and unsaturated vegetable oils like soybean, safflower, primrose, sunflower, corn, canola, and cottonseed oil are some of the concentrated sources of omega-6 dietary fats.

However, excess ingestion of omega-6 dietary fats in the form of highly processed vegetable oils may contribute to an excellent environment for inflammation and tissue damage which can result in cancer. This is because of the fact that omega-6 dietary fats are normally prone to oxidation within the body and in addition, they decrease the readily available quantity of omega-3 fats which thus diminishes the overall anti-clotting effect of the omega-3 fats. Antioxidant nutrients including Vitamin E are necessary to lessen this oxidation effect associated with the increased intake of omega-6 fatty acids.

Taking into consideration the fact that the common western diet has increased quantities of omega-6 fatty acids which fight with the more useful omega-3 fats, nutrition experts consequently advocate that people eat essential fatty acids in a 4:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.