New essential dietary lipids? October 2021
By Rebecca Guenard
In This Section
- Microalgae’s impact on human and animal nutrition, April 2024
- Finding purpose and profit from waste, March 2024
- A low-cost, effective green extraction method, February 2024
- Establishing specialized nutrition in China, January 2024
- The disparity between protein sources and their nutritional value, November/December 2023
- Visualizing complex, multiphase food using confocal Raman microscopy, October 2023
- A more sustainable future begins with collaboration and data, September 2023
- Brain diets, July/August 2023
- Green coffee beans meet green tech, June 2023
- Fatty acid intake and inflammation, May 2023
- The Wild West of edible oils, April 2023
- The arc of preservation bends toward nature, March 2023
- Cloaking a cure: Lipid capsules save the world, February 2023
- From the farmers market to store shelves, January 2023
- Dogma vs. data: Rethinking linoleic acid, November/December 2022
- Improving food packaging, October 2022
- Proteins for meat alternatives: new competition for soy and wheat, September 2022
- Fish heads, fish heads: For biosurfactant production July/August 2022
- Mimicking mother’s milk June 2022
- Three paths forward for sustainable palm oil May 2022
- The continued struggle over biofuel feedstocks March 2022
- A new kind of plant breeding February 2022
- The new bio-based surfactant feedstock January 2022
- Lipid role in the immune system November/December 2021
- New essential dietary lipids? October 2021
- Gut Instincts September 2021
- Can computers make better plant-based foods? July/August 2021
- Poisson from a petri dish June 2021
- The latest additions to eco-friendly cleaning May 2021
- Preserving emulsions with plant-based antioxidants April 2021
- Developments in green surfactants for enhanced oil recovery March 2021
- Alternative base oils: a perspective March 2021
- The COVID-19 pandemic, one year later March 2021
- The green machine: commercializing microalgae products February 2021
- Bio-based (edible) oils: feedstock for lubricants of the future January 2021
- The latest on liposomes January 2021
- Fatty acids and athletic performance November/December 2020
- Where are lubricants headed November/December 2020
- New developments in vegetable oil materials science October 2020
- Agriculture at risk: preparing the oilseed industry for a warmer world September 2020
- Science highlights from a cancelled 2020 AM&E July/August 2020
- Managing your career in times of change June 2020
- Lipidomics comes of age May 2020
- Minimally processed oils April 2020
- The high-throughput frontier March 2020
- Nurturing innovation: how AOCS industries are fostering progress February 2020
- The trouble with studying omega-3s and the brain January 2020
- Understanding pulse anti-nutrients January 2020
- Digitizing manufacturing: how companies are using data to improve production November/December 2019
- Weaving together genetics, epigenetics, and the microbiome to optimize human nutrition October 2019
- Taking the cream out of ice cream September 2019
- Science highlights from St. Louis July/August 2019
- Biotechnology conquers consumer goods June 2019
- Cool characterization methods and where to find them May 2019
- Fermentation, the new protein supply chain April 2019
- Oleogels for drug delivery March 2019
- The complexity of clean-label cosmetics February 2019
- Rethinking plastic packaging January 2019
- Trends in synthetic and natural antioxidants for shelf life extension of meat and meat products November/December 2018
- The icing on the cake October 2018
- Enhancing oxidative stability and shelf life of frying oils with antioxidants September 2018
- Under arrest: investigating factors that govern partial coalescence July/August 2018
- Unconventional Oils June 2018
- Beauty from within May 2018
- Pulses rising April 2018
- Lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey March 2018
- Clean meat February 2018
- What makes your shortening suitable for fancy croissants, puff and Danish pastry? January 2018
- Strategic role of peanuts in sustainable global food security November/December 2017
- Science beyond borders: international student exchange October 2017
- Clean label: the next generation September 2017
- Science snapshots from Orlando July/August 2017
- Five new AOCS methods June 2017
- The whys and wherefores of life-cycle assessment May 2017
- China’s evolving edible oils industry April 2017
- The mysterious case of the arsenolipids March 2017
- Red palm oil February 2017
- The Highs and Lows of Cannabis Testing October 2016
- Chia: Superfood or superfad? January 2017
- Generational training divide November/December 2016
- Storage stability of roasted nuts and stabilization strategy using natural antioxidants September 2016
- Good vibrations: online and at-line monitoring of edible oils with vibrational spectroscopy July/August 2016
- Benchtop NMR spectroscopy for meat authentication June 2016
- Coconut oil boom May 2016
- Sink or swim: fish oil supplements and human health April 2016
- Pulsed electric field: groundbreaking technology for improving olive oil extraction March 2016
- Prescribing dietary fat: therapeutic uses of ketogenic diets February 2016
- Organogels of vegetable oil with plant wax January 2016
- The power of peptides November/December 2015
- Separation anxiety: membrane cleaning in the 21st century October 2015
- Using direct solid phase extraction to analyze persistent organic pollutants in oily food samples September 2015
- Big fat controversy: changing opinions about saturated fats June 2015
- Use of spent bleaching earth for economic and environmental benefit May 2015
- An introduction to cosmetic technology April 2015
- Food texture and nutrition: the changing roles of hydrocolloids and food fibers March 2015
- Scientists rank thousands of substances according to potential exposure level March 2015
- Clean smell does not always equal clean air February 2015
- Biotechnology: Using living systems to solve problems February 2015
- Flush to fuel January 2015
- 1970s fish oil study criticized January 2015
- Developing a high-performance, low-streak degreaser November/December 2014
- Detection, monitoring, and deleterious health effects of lipid oxidation November/December 2014
- Modified protein mimics taste and texture of fat October 2014
- Development of the first efficient membrane separations of cis fatty acids October 2014
- Regulatory updates on FSMA and combustible dust September 2014
- How enzymes are transforming manufacturing September 2014
- Two advances in biodiesel technology July/August 2014
- 2014 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo July 2014
- Peanut genome sequenced June 2014
- A customized approach to frying oil June 2014
- Omics reveals subtle changes in carbon flux that lead to increased oil biosynthesis in oil palm May 2014
- Cannabis testing: a review of the current landscape May 2014
- Industrial hemp gaining traction April 2014
- Emulsions: making oil and water mix April 2014
- Lipid co-oxidation of proteins: One size does not fit all March 2014
- FSMA marches on March 2014
- Disruptive technology? Walmart’s “green” product line may signal a big change February 2014
- Pathways to novel chemicals February 2014
- Specialty lipids in pet nutrition January 2014
- EFSA releases preliminary report on occurrence of 3-MCPD in food January 2014
- Seven new biobased surfactant technologies November/December 2013
- Do oil color scales make you see red . . . or yellow? November/December 2013
- Shortage leads to green route to olefins October 2013
- Sesamol: a natural antioxidant for frying oil September 2013
- FSMA update September 2013
- Patent rights and biotech seeds July August 2013
- The other vitamin E July 2013
- Frac fever heats up June 2013
- Fat fight: Catch-22 for Western oleochemicals? June 2013
- Health and Nutrition News April 2013
- FDA asks for fees from industry to fund FSMA June 2013
- What does it take to start a biodiesel industry? April 2013
- What’s in a Claim? Would a Food Not Labeled “Natural” Taste as Sweet? March 2013
- Regulatory overview March 2013
- The preservative wars February 2013
- Plants producing DHA February 2013
- Swift response to paper on feeding GMO corn, glyphosate January 2013
- AOCS: supporting international standards January 2013
- TSCA and the regulation of renewable chemicals July August 2013
- trans Fatty acid content of foods in China January 2013
- A novel green catalytic process for biodiesel production from Jatropha November/December 2012
- The America Invents Act: Groundbreaking US patent law changes are here November/December 2012
- “Super Phos” esters: the key to higher-performance products November/December 2012
- Advances in field-portable mass spectrometers for on-site analytics October 2012
- EFSA sets upper intake level for LC-PUFA October 2012
- Malaysia: economic transformation advances oil palm industry September 2012
- High-oleic canola oils and their food applications September 2012
- Using enzymes to prepare biobased surfactants July/August 2012
- Oilseeds: at the center of food, water, and energy security July/August 2012
- Health & Nutrition News June 2012
- Hydrocolloids get personal June 2012
- The secrets of Belgian chocolate May 2012
- Plants “remember” drought, adapt May 2012
- The power of mass spectrometry in the detection of fraud April 2012
- Oil in biomass: a step-change for bioenergy production? April 2012
- The Future of LAB March 2012
- World supplies of rapeseed and canola likely to remain tight in the 2012/13 season March 2012
- Methods for differentiating recycled cooking oil needed in China February 2012
- Supercritical fluid-based extraction/processing: then and now February 2012
- Singapore: the place to be in 2012 February 2012
- The Food Safety Modernization Act and its relevance to the oilseed industry February 2012
- Oilseeds in Australia January 2012
- Hydrogen peroxide in home-care formulations November 2011
- A new generation of renewable fuels is on the horizon November 2011
- Omega-3 fatty acids: $13 billion global market October 2011
- Soy and breast cancer October 2011
- EU approves food labeling rules September 2011
- IOM panel recommends tripling vitamin D intake: Panel’s conservative approach receives criticism September 2011
- Self-assembly of lyotropic liquid crystals: from fundamentals to applications August 2011
- Sustainability watch July 2011
- Sustainability Watch July 2011
- Are algae really feasible as fuel? June 2011
- The trouble with crystal polymorphism June 2011
- Insect oils: Nutritional and industrial applications May 2011
- Reconstructing formulas April 2011
- US eggs now lower in cholesterol April 2011
- How to control eating behavior--in mice March 2011
- Maybe we don’t know beans March 2011
- Short- and long-term price forecasting for palm and lauric oils February 2011
- New 3-MCPD (glycidol ester) method February 2011
- Regulatory issues associated with the international oils & fats trade January 2011
- Point-counterpoint on UC Davis olive oil report January 2011
- Biomass--The next revolution in surfactants? December 2010
- One person’s response to a high omega-6 diet November 2010
- Crop residues as feedstock for renewable fuels November 2010
- Universal detectors for determination of lipids in biodiesel production October 2010
- New very long chain fatty acid seed oils produced through introduction of strategic genes into Brassica carinata October 2010
- Surfactants based on monounsaturated fatty acids for enhanced oil recovery September 2010
- Questioning the virginity of olive oils September 2010
- Dietary guidelines report released August 2010
- Keeping up with detergent chemistry August 2010
- News from the Expo floor July 2010
- Degumming revisited July 2010
- First high-GLA safflower oil on market June 2010
- AOCS 2.0 debuts June 2010
- Palm fatty acid distillate biodiesel: Next-generation palm biodiesel May 2010
- Palm oil pundit speaks May 2010
- What is unrefined, extra virgin cold-pressed avocado oil? April 2010
- The ultra-low-linolenic soybean market April 2010
- Dealing with the media: A cautionary tale March 2010
- Hempseed oil in a nutshell March 2010
- Carbon management 101: A conversation with Eric Jackson February 2010
- Giants of the Past: Hermann Pardun (1908-2009) February 2010
- Q&A with Bill Christie February 2010
- Update on Jatropha January 2010
- Unique properties of carbon dioxide-expanded lipids January 2010
- The market situation and political framework in Germany for biodiesel and vegetable oil December 2009
- Industrial oil crops-when will they finally deliver on their promise ? December 2009
- Chemically enhanced oil recovery stages a comeback November 2009
- Field-portable mass spectrometers for onsite analytics: What's next? October 2009
- To make biofuels, or not to make biofuels:That is the question. September 2009
- Melamine analysis at the forefront September 2009
- Global oil yields: Have we got it seriously wrong? August 2009
- Omega-3 fatty acid profiling and dietary forensics August 2009
- Oilseeds of the future part 3 July 2009
- The rise and fall of surfactants lore July 2009
- Oilseeds of the future: Part 2 June 2009
- Codex Alimentarius Commission update June 2009
- Raw material sources for the long-chain omega-3 market:Trends and sustainability. Part 3. May 2009
- Oilseeds of the future: Part 1 May 2009
- Chloroesters in foods: An emerging issue April 2009
- Raw material sources for the long-chain omega-3 market: Trends and sustainability. Part 2. April 2009
- Synthetic HDL created March 2009
- Raw material sources for the long-chain omega-3 market:Trends and sustainability. Part 1. March 2009
- A convenient way to increase legume intake February 2009
- Vitamin E’s safety controversy January 2009
- Universal mechanism of aging uncovered? January 2009
- Is it time to reconsider the role of saturated fats in the human diet? April 2022
October 2021
- Studies involving foods, like whole fat dairy, that contain odd-chain fatty acids show a correlation between good health and how much an individual consumes. There is a similar correspondence with whole grains intake, possibly an effect of odd-chain phenolic lipids in these foods.
- These bioactive compounds show antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities in animal and in vitro studies, but clinical studies to determine efficacy and dosing have not yet been conducted.
- Are odd-chain fatty acids the next omega-3s, and should consumers consider taking supplements?
Milkmen once delivered whole milk door to door; however, this delivery service became less common with each passing generation along with the practice of drinking full-fat milk. Saturated fats were deemed unhealthy when researchers determined that overconsumption increases total cholesterol in the bloodstream, which can result in blocked arteries due to the presence of the more harmful low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
One way for consumers to reduce saturated fat intake was to switch to low-fat dairy products. In the United States, during the late 1970s, the government dissuaded adults from drinking full-fat milk in an effort to prevent heart disease. The World Health Organization established similar nutritional guidelines (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet).
Now, scientists are gathering evidence that beneficial fatty acids may be lost when saturated fats are eliminated from dairy. “Odd-chain fatty acids are a minor component in dairy, breast milk, and some plants,” says Farah Hosseinian, food science professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. They have not been given much attention in the past, but researchers have since realized the compounds are bioactive, she says.
In an effort to remove saturated fats, are we losing essential nutrients? Some researchers think so and are promoting supplementation of odd-chain fatty acids (OCFA) as a way to improve human health and extend life expectancy.
Evidence of bioactivity
Current interest in OCFA may have arisen in the mid-2010s, when type 2 diabetes research led to the conclusion that not all saturated fats behaved equally in the body. Researchers analyzed the plasma of a large group of participants across eight countries. They found that higher amounts of OCFA in plasma were associated with a lower occurrence of type 2 diabetes, while more even-chain fatty acids indicated higher risk for the disease (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70146-9).
In a commentary for The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology at the time, Dariush Mozaffarian, cardiologist and professor of nutrition at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, argued that the findings bolster a growing cache of evidence that consuming dairy fat reduces insulin resistance and the chance of developing type 2 diabetes (https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70166-4).
The majority of milk fat is comprised of the saturated fatty acids myristic, palmitic, and stearic, which range in chain length from C14 to C16 to C18. Oleic acid is the prominent unsaturated fatty acid. OCFA are present in much smaller amounts, even as low as 0.5% of the total fat. Despite being minor components of dairy fat, OCFA continued to pique the interest of scientists, because both pentadecanoic acid (15:0) and heptadecanoic acid (17:0) are good biomarkers for dairy intake. Studies have shown that the concentration of these fatty acids in blood plasma increases when dairy products are consumed.
Researchers have since concluded that OCFA comes from other sources besides ruminant fat, based on measurable levels in the plasma of vegans which is comparable to that of omnivores (https://doi.org/10.1159/000118629). One possibility for the formation of OCFA in the body is through synthesis from propionic acid, generated by the gut microbiome after fermenting dietary fiber. Scientists have suggested other means of endogenous synthesis, but no conclusive pathway has been determined.
Laboratory and animal experiments
To understand why OCFA in blood plasma correlates with positive health effects, researchers have carried out dozens of studies on animals and cellular models in the laboratory. Their goal is to determine the biological function of these fats.
Hosseinian has spent a decade studying phenolic lipids, particularly alkylresorcinols, that have odd-chain fatty acids attached to their rings. The compounds react through a similar mechanism to OCFA. Therefore, her research often involves a comparison of the two.
Using a device known as a liposofast, Hosseinian’s team produces clusters of liposomes. The particles act as artificial cell membranes that the team uses to study how OCFA and phenolic lipids likely incorporate into human cells. Using a scanning electron microscope, they have observed that the fats incorporate uniformly into the cell membranes, increasing their functionality.
“At the surface of the cell there are lipoproteins, glycolipids, and glycoproteins,” says Hosseinian. The OCFA scavenge free radicals, possibly protecting these important biological molecules involved in cell function. “Diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s are related to lipid oxidation or protein oxidation,” she says. OCFA could be repairing or preventing damage that might lead to these diseases if left unchecked.
Other research groups found OCFA were less likely to undergo beta-oxidation than even-numbered FA when isotopically labeled fatty acids were fed to mice, perhaps remaining intact to repopulate glycosphingolipids in the brain. In separate studies, mouse models created with impaired mitochondrial function showed improvement when treated with OCFA, indicating their necessity for glucose homoeostasis (Fig.1). Finally, further mouse studies suggest that OCFA also serve a role in proper gastrointestinal function (https://doi.org/10.3945/an.115.011387).
A recent study of C15:0 administered to rats and New Zealand white rabbits existing on high-fat diets showed that after two weeks the animals had overturned the effects of the unhealthy diet exhibiting, lower glucose, cholesterol, inflammation, anemia, and dyslipidemia (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64960-y). The same research group studied the effect of C17:0 concentration in the serum of bottlenose dolphins. They found an inverse relationship between C17:0 concentration and the development of a metabolic syndrome similar to prediabetes. When the dolphins were fed fish with higher C17:0 content, the incidence of this metabolic syndrome decreased (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132117).
Developing supplements
Despite all the proof that has been gathered so far supporting OCFA status as beneficial to human health, Hosseinian says it is too soon to recommend supplements. She hopes that one day these molecules will be considered essential for the diet just like omega-3s, but says more research is necessary before that can happen. Yes, OCFA exhibit antioxidant activity and prevent inflammation, but she says these findings have only been gathered in laboratory experiments and human clinical trials are still needed.
“The mechanism of action is not as easy as we are making it sound here. Gender, age, polymorphism, many things should be considered before a product comes to market,” says Hosseinian.
Not all researchers agree. The lead researcher of the previously mentioned dolphin studies, Stephanie Venn-Watson, claims she has discovered a new essential fatty acid and wants to make it available to consumers (https://tinyurl.com/23uy8ubb). She is now the cofounder and CEO of Seraphina Therapeutics, based in Andover, Massachusetts, USA. The company is focused on creating an OCFA supplement market. The company launched with a fatty15 TM supplement and earlier this year released the food ingredient FA15TM that can be incorporated into various foods, including nondairy milks.
This summer several media outlets reported FA15TM, a powered form of C15:0, had received generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status (https://tinyurl.com/dfunvws2). However, a search of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database did not produce any record of such a notice being issued. A Seraphina Therapeutics spokesperson clarified that the company self-certified using a panel of experts familiar with the FDA’s GRAS requirements.
If omega-3 research is any indicator of the potential success of supplements, then OCFA have many obstacles to navigate before they will be adopted by the food industry. For 30 years, researchers published studies showing a correlation between consuming omega-3s and improved cardiovascular health. Nutritional guidelines for most countries recommend two servings of fish per week to achieve such health effects. However, clinical trials for the development of an omega-3 treatment have faced significant challenges.
Since there have not been any human studies of OCFA, Hosseinian says scientists really do not know how much the body needs or which dietary sources have the highest conversion rates in the body. She says scientists need to ensure that consuming too much does not actually result in negative health effects.
“Overall, we are talking about minor components people get through diet that can affect cell membrane functionality,” says Hosseinian. “But these are dose-dependent, and we do not yet know the optimum amount.”
The fats and oils community is eager to learn more about these bioactive compounds, and multiple calls for more research into OCFA have been published in scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (https://doi.org/10.1002/aocs.12507). As more researchers take up this challenge, the coming years should provide consumers with the information they need to determine how to get the most health benefits from OCFA.
About the Author
Rebecca Guenard is the associate editor of Inform at AOCS. She can be contacted at rebecca.guenard@aocs.org
Information
Odd-chain fatty acids and odd-chain phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) are essential for diet, Dornan, K., et al., J. Am. Oil Chem.’ Soc. 98: 605–709, 2021.
Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: Could it be essential?, Venn-Watson S., et al., Sci. Rep. 10: 8161, 2020.
Pentadecanoic and heptadecanoic acids: multifaceted odd-chain fatty acids, Pfeuffer, M. and A. Jaudszus, Adv. Nutr. 7: 730–4, 2016.