Why are Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids important?
Omega-3 fats affect human health in two basic ways. First, Omega-3 fats are important because they lead to the production a specific group of compounds called eicosanoids (pronounced eye-co-san-oids). Eicosanoids have extremely important actions affecting such things as immune response, blood pressure, blood clotting, body temperature and cell growth. Each type of eicosanoid has a different effect on a different part of the body and the type of eicosanoid produced depends on the proportion of omega-3 fats compared to omega-6s (since they compete with each other). Eicosanoids have hormone-like effects, but are made and used by the same cell (hormones are made in one cell type but work in another). In addition, eicosanoids don’t function the same in different types of cells and they can influence hormone function. Here is an example of the difference between omega-6 and omega-3 effects. Arachidonic acid, a 20 carbon, highly unsaturated fat) is acted upon by an enzyme in platelets to form
