Linolenic Acid

Linolenic acid is an unsaturated fatty acid that is an essential fatty acid in mammals because they cannot synthesize double bonds in fatty acids beyond position #9. This makes linoleic acid and linolenic acid essential in mammalian diets, since they have double bonds beyond position #9 (at positions 9,12 and at positions 9,12, and 15 for linoleic and linolenic acid, respectively).

See also: Fatty Acid Desaturation, , Fatty Acids, Linoleic Acid