The Fatty Acids in Human Blood in Normal and Pathological Conditions

As has been shown in previous researches the fatty acids in human blood exist, as glycerides, cholesterol esters, soaps, or as free acids; they are also represented as a radical of lecithin and the phosphatide groups. Their content varies in continued starvation, fat absorption, anesthesia, certain pathological conditions, et’c., as recently reported and confirmed in a series of papers by B1oor.l In normal individuals when care is taken to avoid the above conditions the amount of fatty acids in the blood is fairly constant. But little, if any attention has been given to the quality of the fatty acids, and especially t#o the proportion of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids as well as the degree of unsaturation. That there is a difference in the quality of the fatty acids of the whole human body is shown by t’he fact that, the fats called interstitial, depot, and organ fats, each absorb iodine in different proportions, thus signifying that the unsaturated part of the fatty acids varies in the different tissues. Jaecklez found an iodine number of 62 to 73 for human (interstitial) fat, and 70 to 80 per cent of t,he fatty acids present as glycerides were oleic acid. Hartley’s3 analysis of liver fat shows the presence of higher unsaturated fatty acids than oleic acid as indicat,ed by the iodine number of 165 to 175.