El ácido estearidónico: un ácido graso omega-3 de origen vegetal con gran potencialidad en salud y nutrición

Abstract

Healthy benefits of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids eicosa-pentaenoic acid (20:5, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6, DHA) are widely known. They are available in food from marine origin, being fish the main dietary supplier. However, taking into account the international dietary guidelines, fish consumption is very low in Chile and other countries. For this reason, food industry is recently focusing on stearidonic acid (18:4, SDA), a C18-omega-3 fatty acid available in the oil extracted from certain plant species, and that acts as an EPA and DHA precursor in the human metabolism. Metabolic conversion rate of SDA into EPA is much higher than that of -linolenic acid (18:3, ALA), which is the main omega-3 fatty acid in terrestrial plant sources. SDA supplementation provides several beneficial effects for human health according to the evidence. This paper describes such effects and the potential of some wild plants as SDA supplier.