Back أحماض دهنية أساسية Arabic Àcids grassos essencials Catalan Esenciální mastná kyselina Czech Essentielle Fettsäuren German Απαραίτητο λιπαρό οξύ Greek Ácido graso esencial Spanish اسیدهای چرب ضروری Persian Välttämätön rasvahappo Finnish Acide gras essentiel French Ácido graxo esencial Galician
| Types of fats in food |
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| Components |
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Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that are required by humans and other animals for normal physiological function that cannot be synthesized in the body[1]–either at all or in sufficient quantities – and thus must be obtained from a dietary source.[2][3] Essential nutrients are indispensable for various cellular metabolic processes and for the maintenance and function of tissues and organs.[4]
Essential fatty acids should not be confused with essential oils, which are "essential" in the sense of being a concentrated essence. Some other fatty acids are sometimes classified as "conditionally essential", meaning that they can become essential under some developmental or disease conditions; examples include docosahexaenoic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and gamma-linolenic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid).
Only two fatty acids are known to be essential for humans: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid). These are supplied to the body either as the free fatty acid, or more commonly as some glyceride derivative.[5] Deficiency in these fatty acids is rare. These fatty acids are essential because they are precursors to vitamins, cofactors, and derivatives, including prostaglandins, leukotrienes, thromboxanes, lipoxins, and others.[6]
When the two EFAs were discovered in 1923, they were designated "vitamin F", but in 1929, research on rats showed that the two EFAs are better classified as fats rather than vitamins.[7]
- ^ Robert S. Goodhart; Maurice E. Shils (1980). Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease (6th ed.). Philadelphia: Lea and Febinger. pp. 134–138. ISBN 978-0-8121-0645-9.
- ^ "What is an essential nutrient?". NetBiochem Nutrition, University of Utah.
- ^ Vaughan JG, Geissler C, Nicholson B, Dowle E, Rice E (2009). The new Oxford book of food plants. Oxford University Press US. pp. 212–. ISBN 978-0-19-954946-7. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- ^ Chipponi JX, Bleier JC, Santi MT, Rudman D (May 1982). "Deficiencies of essential and conditionally essential nutrients". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 35 (5 Suppl): 1112–6. doi:10.1093/ajcn/35.5.1112. PMID 6805293.
- ^ Whitney Ellie; Rolfes SR (2008). Understanding Nutrition (11th ed.). California: Thomson Wadsworth. p. 154.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Daswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Burr, G.O., Burr, M.M. and Miller, E. (1931). "On the nature and role of the fatty acids essential in nutrition". J. Biol. Chem. 86 (587): 587–621. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(20)78929-5.
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