Myristoleic acid is one of the monounsaturated fatty acids.
| List of monounsaturated fatty acids: |
| Myristoleic acid |
| Palmitoleic acid |
| Vaccenic acid |
| Oleic acid |
| Eicosenoic acid |
| Nervonic acid |
The medium-chain unsaturated myristoleic acid accumulates in adipose tissue with the consumption of milk products, which are rich sources of the fatty acid.
Myristoleic acid is particularly good at increasing cell membrane fluidity because of its short chain length and unsaturated status.
Diets high in saturated fat lead to low membrane fluidity. Therefore, increased membrane fluidity is generally a favorable health consequence. However, high levels of myristoleic acid may raise concern when found in cancer patients because of the tumor-promoting effect of high membrane fluidity.
Myristoleic and palmitoleic acid are normally found in very small amounts in human tissue, because the desaturase enzymes have weak affinity for their saturated fatty acid precursors, myristic and palmitic acids.
In long-term essential fatty acid deficiency, the low concentrations of ALA and LA free up desaturase enzymes to act on saturated fatty acids, forming myristoleic and palmitoleic acids.
Thus, elevated levels of these two fatty acids can indicate longterm essential fatty acid deficiency.
Myristoleic (Genova)
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