What are the differences among fatty acids, and which ones are omega-3s?
The basic format used for describing the individual fatty acids is that the number before the colon indicates the number of carbon atoms in the fatty acid molecule and the number after the colon indicates the number of double bonds. Omega-3 and omega-6 isomers are denoted by n-3 and n-6. For more information, including a table that lists common names for many of the fatty acids, please see Nutrition Data’s Fatty Acids page.
