You are what you eat. This is especially true with regard to fatty acids. Fatty acids are the principle components of triglycerides, the form of fat you consume in the diet. Humans have two essential fatty acids: linoleic and alpha linolenic acids. You must obtain these two essential fatty acids from the diet for optimal health, as with all other essential nutrients. These, and all other fatty acids, are also incorporated into adipose for storage, in cell membranes for structural and regulatory action, in skeletal muscle for energy utilization as well as many other uses throughout the body.
Essential Fatty Acids
Linoleic acid is an 18-carbon omega-6 fatty acid with two points of unsaturation. Linoleic acid is the starting point for the formation of long-chain omega-6 fatty acids. Alpha linolenic acid is an 18-carbon omega-3 fatty acid with three points of unsaturation and is the starting point for the formation of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids are modified in order to make a variety of compounds that regulate everything from mood to inflammation.
Fish Oil Fatty Acids
Fish oil fatty acids are long chain long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Fatty acids that are considered fish oil fatty acids are those that are 20 carbons or longer and have four or more points of unsaturation. The fish oil fatty acids have long been shown and prescribed to reduce plasma triglyceride concentrations. When you consume fish or a fish oil supplement , a cascade of metabolic events occur. Your source of fish oil will alter the metabolic cascade depending on the profile of fatty acids in the fish oil. With regard to inflammation, omega 6 omega-6 fatty acid increase increases inflammation, while the omega 3 omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation.
Tissue Accumulation of Dietary Fatty Acids
Tissue accumulation of some dietary fatty acids is hard to measure because your body can synthesize these fatty acids. It becomes easier to measure dietary fatty acid incorporation into body tissues when you consume fatty acids that your body cannot make. When you consume essential fatty acids, they will become incorporated into the body's tissues and measurable increases occur when you consume more and more of a particular fatty acid. In addition to the essential fatty acids, when you consume the fish oil fatty acids, they are readily incorporated into tissues of the body as well.
Rate of Accumulation of Dietary Fatty Acids
Your specific tissue incorporation of dietary fatty acids will vary. Variations are due to the amount of each fatty acid you consume, the metabolic requirement for each fatty acid and the tissue of interest. Dietary fatty acid will incorporate into your cholesteryl esters -- storage form of cholesterol -- and reflect the fatty acids in your diet over the past couple of weeks. While dietary fatty acids that incorporate into your adipose tissue represent what you have consumed over the past year. Fatty acids do in fact influence the composition of fat in your body, as well as your health and metabolic status.
References
- . "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Incorporation of Dietary N-3 Fatty Acids into the Fatty Acids of Human Adipose Tissue and Plasma Lipid Classes; DA Leaf, et al.; July 1995.
- "Journal of Lipid Research"; Kinetics of the Incorporation of Dietary Fatty Acids into Serum Cholesteryl Esters, Erythrocyte Membranes, and Adipose Tissue: an 18-month Controlled Study; MB Katan, et al.; October 1997.
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