Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several polyunsaturated fatty acids that are found in leafy green vegetables, vegetable oils, and fish such as salmon and mackerel, have anticoagulant properties, decrease serum triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol, and increase HDL-cholesterol.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chemistry any
polyunsaturated fatty acid having adouble bond between the third and fourthcarbon atoms from theend of themolecule farthest from thecarboxylic acid ; they are found ingreen vegetables and in theoils offish such assalmon andmackerel ; they areessential fatty acids , and seem to bebeneficial inreducing therisk ofheart disease
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a polyunsaturated fatty acid whose carbon chain has its first double valence bond three carbons from the beginning
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[So called because the first double bond in the chain of carbon atoms in such fatty acids is found between the third and fourth atoms when counted from the omega end of the chain.]
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