b) What is the difference between the following?
• cis and trans fatty acids
• n-3 and n-6 fatty acids
ANS- The difference between cis and trans is that the two H atoms are on the same side of the double bond (cis), compared to being on opposite sides (trans). This may not seem like much of a difference, but it affects the shapes of the molecules. In a cis configuration, the double bond creates a kink in the fatty acid.
ANS-( n-3 and n-6 fatty acids )-Both the omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids belong to a group of polyunsaturated fats called 'essential' because they are necessary to life and to health yet we cannot make them in the body - they must be obtained from diet. They cannot be inter-converted and both must be present in the diet in a proper balance for good health.
Their differences lie in their chemical structure and their roles in the body.
As polyunsaturated fatty acids, both the omega-6 and the omega-3 families have more than one double bond in the carbon chain. All fatty acids in the omega-6 family contain their first double bond between the 6th and 7th carbon atoms (counted from the methyl (CH3) terminal carbon atom and the omega-3 family of fatty acids have their first double bond between the 3rd and 4th carbon atom.
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