Linolenic acid is a type of naturally-occurring

fatty acid In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...

. It can refer to either of two octadecatrienoic acids (i.e. with an 18-carbon chain and three double bonds, which are found in the '' cis'' configuration), or a mixture of the two. Linolenate (in the form of

triglyceride A triglyceride (from '' tri-'' and '' glyceride''; also TG, triacylglycerol, TAG, or triacylglyceride) is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids. Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other vertebrates ...

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an acid (either organic or inorganic) in which the hydrogen atom (H) of at least one acidic hydroxyl group () of that acid is replaced by an organyl group (R). These compounds contain a distin ...

s of linolenic acid) is often found in vegetable oils; traditionally, such fatty acylates are reported as the fatty acids: *

α-Linolenic acid α-Linolenic acid, also known as ''alpha''-linolenic acid (ALA) (from Greek ''alpha'' denoting "first" and ''linon'' meaning flax), is an ''n''−3, or omega-3, essential fatty acid. ALA is found in many seeds and oils, including flaxseed, ...

, an

omega-3 Omega−3 fatty acids, also called omega−3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their ...

(n-3) fatty acid * γ-Linolenic acid, an

omega-6 Omega−6 fatty acids (also referred to as ω−6 fatty acids or ''n''−6 fatty acids) are a family of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) that share a final carbon-carbon double bond in the ''n''−6 position, that is, the sixth bond, count ...

(n-6) fatty acid

References

{{chemistry index Alkenoic acids Aromatase inhibitors Fatty acids Essential fatty acids Essential nutrients

See also

References