Re: Different Fat Types

[Guest guest]

SR16 gives the Fatty acid breakdown as best I know it.

The 16:00 in coconut is the same as the 16:00 in meat fats. I recall that the heart uses some sat fat, but our bodies will make it if we need it.

In fact, 18:02 and 18:03 are the ONLY essential fatty acids defined as: "the body doesn't make them". At least that's the common belief. BUT in Modern Nutrition pg 82, it refs an article that claims the body can make those from 16:02 and 16:03, available in green plants. Ref Cunnane SC, Lipids 1995;30:781-3.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/73/4/709

"Thus, there are 2 mechanisms by which food restriction and weight loss incur a potential risk of linoleate deficiency: 1) reduced linoleate intake because mammals are unable to synthesize linoleate except from the small amounts of dietary hexadecadienoate (16:2n-6) present in some common edible green vegetables (10),"

Write that name (hexadecadienoate )down - it wasn't easy to find. }

per (10) Lipids. 1995 Aug;30(8):781-3.

"Green leafy vegetables common in the human diet were shown to contain up to 1.2% of total fatty acids as hexadecadienoate and 11.6% as hexadecatrienoate. Hence, humans consuming green vegetables probably synthesize a small proportion of their total body content of linoleate and alpha-linolenate. PMID: 7475996"

In practice, humans may not get enough of the 16 carbon precursors from greens. And you won't find the values of 16:02 or 16:03 in SR16. And you won't find hexadecadienoate in duke's db.

I would guess that 16:02 and 16:03 are:

hexadecadienoic acid

hexadecatrienoic acid

Also, recognize that 16:03 is not necessarily n-3. In fact, it's probably 16:03^6.9.12. For that simple reason, (maybe simple minded), it blows the association of ALL omega-3's to PCa out the window and centers it around the "omega-3s" in flax. Notice Dr Myers left out soy oil. At this point I'm beginning to question if Flax HAS any omega-3s. In SR16 it's 18:03 is listed as "undifferentiated".

Someone please enlighten me if I'm wrong. Organic chemistry is not my native tongue.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----

From: Rodney

Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 1:32 PM

Subject: [ ] Different Fat Types

Hi folks:One thing I would find very helpful, but I doubt anyone has done it, is a full listing of ALL the fats ever likely to be consumed by people in industrialized countries. Along with what are currently believed to be the health effects of each (and whether there is empirical evidence for these beliefs!), the foods that contain them, and approximate amounts (high/medium/low, perhaps).I first realized this when Warren warned me here a few weeks ago that the saturated fats in coconut are believed to be beneficial. How many other weird and wonderful fats are there that I have never heard of that it would be helpful to know about?It seems we need to go beyond the 'mono', 'poly', 'sat' and 'trans' labels. But is there a good source for this?Rodney.