Background
Some n−9s are common components of animal fat and vegetable oil. Two n−9 fatty acids important in industry are:
- Oleic acid (18:1, n−9), which is a main component of olive oil and other monounsaturated fats
- Erucic acid (22:1, n−9), which is found in rapeseed, wallflower seed, and mustard seed. Rapeseed with high erucic acid content is grown for commercial use in paintings and coatings as a drying oil. Canola oil comes from a cultivar of the rapeseed plant that has been bred, or in some cases genetically modified, to contain very little erucic acid.
Unlike n−3 and n−6 fatty acids, n−9 fatty acids are not classed as essential fatty acids (EFA). This is both because they can be created by the human body from unsaturated fat, and are therefore not essential in the diet, and because the lack of an n−6 double bond keeps them from participating in the reactions that form the eicosanoids.
Under severe conditions of EFA deprivation, mammals will elongate and desaturate oleic acid to make mead acid, (20:3, n−9). This has been documented to a lesser extent in one study following vegans, vegetarians and semi vegetarians who followed unbalanced diets.
| Common name | Lipid name | Chemical name |
|---|---|---|
| oleic acid | 18:1 (n−9) | 9-octadecenoic acid |
| elaidic acid | 18:1 (n−9) | (E)-octadec-9-enoic acid |
| gondoic acid | 20:1 (n−9) | 11-eicosenoic acid |
| mead acid | 20:3 (n−9) | 5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid |
| erucic acid | 22:1 (n−9) | 13-docosenoic acid |
| nervonic acid | 24:1 (n−9) | 15-tetracosenoic acid |
Read more about this topic: Omega-9 Fatty Acid
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