What Is An Essential Fatty Acid

Arachidonic acid aa is a 20 carbon ω 6 conditionally essential fatty acid.

What is an essential fatty acid. The term essential fatty acid refers to fatty acids required for biological processes but does not include the fats that only act as fuel. Essential fatty acids efas are fats that must be consumed through diet because the body is unable to manufacture them on its own. Studies of cutaneous biology have shown that a diet deficient in efas can lead to characteristic scaly skin disorders. The most common among these is linoleic acid.

Essential fatty acids or efas are fatty acids that humans and other animals must ingest because the body requires them for good health but cannot synthesize them. An essential fatty acid is one that your body needs but cannot assemble from other fats in your diet. There are two essential fatty acids for humans omega 3 alpha linolenic acid and omega 6 linoleic acid. They are essential because your body cannot produce them on its own so they must come from your diet.

This is because too much omega 6 in the diet can have a pro inflammatory effect rather than counter inflammation. Linoleic acid and alpha linolenic acid are considered essential fatty acids because you need to obtain them through your diet since your body can t create them. For proper nutrition you must include them in your diet. Essential fatty acids efas specifically linoleic and linolenic acids have been shown to play an important role in maintaining the moisture barrier function of the skin e g preventing water loss and skin dehydration.

These fats are needed by the body in order to maintain overall health. Since both these essential fatty acids need to be taken from food sources it is very important that the right balance of the two is consumed. Alpha linolenic acid is converted in the body to the active forms of omega 3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid dha and eicosapentaenoic acid epa. It sits at the head of the arachidonic acid cascade more than 20 different signalling paths that control a wide array of bodily functions but especially those functions involving inflammation cell growth and the central nervous system.

Essential fatty acids play an important role in the life and death of cardiac cells immune system function and blood pressure regulation. The two primary efas are known as linoleic acid omega 6 and alpha linolenic acid omega 3. An unsaturated fatty acid that is essential to human health but cannot be manufactured in the body. Docosahexaenoic acid dha is an omega 3 essential fatty acid shown to play important roles in synaptic transmission in the brain during fetal development.