Oleic Acid

Oleic Acid is a fatty acid that is naturally present in various animal and vegetable fats and oils. This acid is an odorless and colorless oil, but commercial samples are yellowish or brown.

What is oleic acid?

Chemically, oleic acid is classified as an unsaturated fatty acid. The name oleic is derived from the Latin word oleum meaning oil. Oleic acid is the most common fatty acid in nature. Oleic acid salts and esters are called oleate.

Oleic acid is the most common unsaturated fatty acid in nature. Fatty acids (or their salts) are often absent in biological systems as such. Instead, fatty acids such as oleic acid exist as their esters, usually triglycerides, which are the fatty substances of many natural oils.

This substance is found in fats (triglycerides), membrane-forming phospholipids, cholesterol esters and wax esters. Oleic acid is the most common omega-9 fatty acid and the most common unsaturated fatty acid. Oleic acid is the most abundant fatty acid in human adipose tissue, and is generally the second most abundant in human tissues after palmitic acid.

The role of oleic acid in oils

Oleic acid triglycerides make up the majority of olive oil. Oleic acid makes olive oil inedible. Also 59-75% pecan oil, 61% canola oil, 67-36% peanut oil, 60% macadamia oil, 20-80% sunflower oil, 15-20% grape seed oil, buckthorn oil, 40% sesame oil, and 14% of poppy seed oil is also composed of oleic acid. This substance is present in many animal fats and it makes up 37-56% of chicken and turkey fat and 44-47% of pork contains oleic acid.

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Oleic Acid