What are essential fats?
Essential fats are essential for health and are used in the body for many vital functions. Essential fats are needed to make hormones, cells membranes, and are vital for healthy skin, hair and nails. Unlike saturated fats, essential fats have many other roles in the body other than fat storage. For example; we need essential fats to be able to absorb vitamins A, D, E, K.
With the focus on low-fat diets over the last few years, we have forgotten about those fats that our bodies need for optimal health and energy. There are two fats that are considered essential, meaning that our bodies do not manufacture them, and therefore we need to get them from our diet, and without them our bodies cannot function optimally. These fats are omega 3 and omega 6. Unlike other non-essential fats, the body uses these essential fats for growth and functional needs, rather than for fuel. This means they do not get stored as fat in your fat cells, but instead increase metabolism and discourage increased fat storage.
Scientists have given essential fats (a.k.a. essential fatty acids or EFAs) their name because the body must have them to survive, but cannot synthesize them from any other substance we eat, so a direct food source is required. Hence, the name essential. There are many kinds of fats, but only two kinds of essential fats: omega 3 (n-3 or w3) and omega 6 (n-6 or w6), both of which are unsaturated fats. Each EFA is turned into several derivatives by the body, provided enough n-3 and n-6, in the right ratio, and made with health in mind, are supplied. All other fats, such as omega 9 (monounsaturated), omega 7, and saturated fat, are non-essential because the body can produce them from sugars and starches. Where do Essential Fats come from? Sources of n-3s are flaxseeds and green leafy vegetables. The n-3 derivatives EPA and DHA are found in high fat, cold water fish such as albacore tuna, sardines, Atlantic halibut and salmon, coho, pink and king salmon, Pacific and Atlantic herring, Atlan
