What are fatty acids
Within a varied, healthy and balanced diet it is very important to opt for fresh and natural foods, which ultimately provide all those essential nutrients that our body so much needs for its proper functioning and for our own health in general. We can mention vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. And within the group of fats we must mention the fatty acids, which consist of the most important components of fats. That is to say, are organic components of fats, which provide energy to our body and allow the development of different tissues.
From a more technical point of view, fatty acids are linear substances chemically, both saturated and unsaturated, with the carboxyl function, consisting of organic acids of more than six carbons long. According to the amount of carbons present in the molecule, its melting point changes, so that a greater amount also increases its melting point (something that also happens in reverse). In fact, Fatty acids can be saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, which depends directly on the presence -or absence- of one or more pairs of carbon-carbon double bonds inside the molecule.
Why are they so important to our health?
Essential fatty acids are necessary and essential fatty acids in our diet, given that, among other aspects, they provide us with energy and, in turn, allow the development of different tissues. Since our body is not capable of creating them on their own, it is fundamental to obtain them from the diet, through the different foods that we consume each day.
It is true that our body is able to manufacture fatty acids both saturated and unsaturated from certain elements, but essential fatty acids (polyunsaturated) must be ingested directly from the diet.
Within the essential fatty acids we can find different families of fatty acids, as is the case of Omega 3, Omega 6 Y Omega 9. In its most elementary form they are the linoleic acid and the alpha-linolenic acid.
