Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Why does an animal or plant use different kinds of fat?

Why are some animals higher in PUFA than others? And why are some higher in omega3 and others in omega6?

Why are coconuts and palmseeds so high in saturated fat?

And could the answer of the above questions mean something for the human organisms eating these animals or plants?

ps: these questions came to me while I was thinking about why some plants/fruits contain more anti-oxidants than others...

flag	asked Apr 26 2010 at 19:45 Pieter D 11.4k●2●20●50

Cool question, love biology. – David Csonka Apr 29 2010 at 15:12

alejandro · Answer 1 · 2010-04-29 02:23:30Z UTC

It is not so much related to the fat being liquid but rather to it being stable. The nuts in warm climates have evolved to have oils that are more stable in warm climates, this leads to high saturated content and low polyunsaturated content (since in stability saturated > monounsaturated > polyunsaturated). The nuts in colder climates have not had this evolutionary pressure so you don't see high saturated content in most of those nuts.

Michael · Answer 2 · 2010-05-02 04:15:05Z UTC

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cold blooded animals have higher PUFA. warm blooded animals have higher saturated fat. Even within an animal, fat towards the center of the animal tends to be higher in saturated fat and fat towards the extremity higher in PUFA.

answered May 2 2010 at 4:15

Michael
31●1

That's great to know! Thanks. And do you think this has an implication for our diet? – Pieter D May 2 2010 at 7:27

sarah-ann · Answer 3 · 2010-04-26 19:56:42Z UTC

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I know with the situation of plants, colder climate seeds use PUFA as an energy source as it's liquid. Tropical oils can be saturated as they are liquid anyway in the warm climate.

answered Apr 26 2010 at 19:56

sarah-ann
4,909●14●31

Why does an animal or plant use different kinds of fat?

3 Answers