Abstract
Fatty acids come in a variety of structures and, because of this, create a variety of functions for these lipids. Some fatty acids have a role to play in energy metabolism, some help in lipid storage, cell structure, the physical state of the lipid, and even in food stability. Fatty acid metabolism plays a particularly important role in meeting the energy demands of the heart. It is the primary source of myocardial energy in control conditions. Its role changes dramatically in disease states in the heart, but the pathologic role these fatty acids play depends upon the type of cardiovascular disease and the type of fatty acid. However, no matter how good a food is for one’s health, its taste will ultimately become a deciding factor in its influence on human health. No food will provide health benefits if it is not ingested. This review discusses the taste characteristics of culinary oils that contain fatty acids and how these fatty acids affect the performance of the heart during healthy and diseased conditions. The contrasting contributions that different fatty acid molecules have in either promoting cardiac pathologies or protecting the heart from cardiovascular disease is also highlighted in this article.
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Key Points
Fatty acids represent a class of molecules with a large structural and functional diversity. The main point of this review was to highlight the metabolism of fatty acids in the heart in health and disease as well as to draw the attention to the importance of dietary fats. Dietary fatty acid intake can have both detrimental as well as beneficial effects on heart fatty acid metabolism. This review summarized the studies describing different methods that could be used to reduce the bitterness of fatty acids in order to improve their ingestion and the beneficial effects these ingested fatty acids, particularly PUFAs may have on health and disease as well as to draw the attention to the importance of dietary fats.
Olive oil and flaxseed oil (also known as linseed oil) are two commonly used culinary oils. Both oils exhibit a bitter and pungent taste. This can limit their acceptance in the general population and restrict their use in both regular diets and in experimental research studies. The bitter taste originates from the unique polar polyphenol-rich composition of the oils. Extended storage of flaxseed oil can result in its deterioration and generation of methionine oxidation of its cyclolinopeptides. From a food processing standpoint, both high and low temperatures can be used as effective ways of reducing the bitter taste.