The Importance of Fatty Acids in Health & Diet
What is the importance of fatty acids for health and diet?
Fatty acids are one of the few oils that can not be created by humans and needs to be digested in the body.
Are there different types of fatty acids?
There are three types of fatty acids known as the omega 3, omega 6 and omega 9. Each comes from different resources and has different benefits to a healthy diet. Omega 3 fatty acid corrects imbalances in modern diets that lead tohealth problems. Foods rich with omega 3 can help lower the risk ofchronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer as well as lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
(Overall, most of these organizations recommend a minimum of 250–500 mg combined EPA and DHA each day for healthy adults).1
Omega 6 fatty acid is also a polyunsaturated fat, essential for human health because it can not be made in the body. It can be obtained from consuming foods such as metas, poultry, and eggs as aweel from plants and nuts.
Omega 9 fatty acids can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. There are studies of increase HDL( Good Cholesterol) while lowering LDL (Bad cholesterol).
Hibbeln, Joseph R. (June 2006). “Healthy intakes of n−3 and n−6 fatty acids: estimations considering worldwide diversity.”. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 83 (6, supplement): 1483S–1493S. American Society for Nutrition.