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The Role of the Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-3s)
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- Now, can you guess what saturated fat means?
- That's right, a carbon chain that is completely full of hydrogen atoms, with no spaces for any more hydrogen atoms. These saturated fatty acid chains can vary from 3-20 carbon atoms.
- If a fat is "hydrogenated", in a manufacturing process, what do you think they've done? If you guessed that they filled up the fat with hydrogen atoms, you're right.
- You can probably now guess what partially-hydrogenated fat means.
- So, what does hydrogenation of fat mean to you?
- Well, the more empty spaces there are in a fatty acid chain, the more biologically active and alive these fats are.
- Saturated fats on the other hand are biologically inactive, which means for all our purposes, they are dead.
- That's why you can leave saturated fat products on the shelf without them "going bad" or rancid. When you're a dead fat, there's no "going bad."
- We have been sold on the idea of using dead, hydrogenated, saturated fats because they have a long, economical, shelf life.
- Live, unsaturated fatty acids on the other hand do "go bad" or rancid after awhile.
- This is actually good news, because these are the kind of fats you want in your diet.
- Live fats. And, which do you think your living cells prefer - live or dead fats?
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The Road to Wellness 
