What are Omega-9 fats?

There is some confusion in many people’s minds about what the different “Omega’s” are, so let’s try and shed a little light on the subject.

Omega-9 family.
These are not Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s), because our bodies can make Omega-9 from other fats if there is not enough in our food.
They are still very healthy fats and one of the key components of the “Mediterranean diet”.
A number of studies have shown that, compared to a typical Western diet, a Mediterranean style diet can have substantial benefits for total mortality, heart health, syndrome X and diabetes, mental health and breast cancer in older woman.

The most well known source of Omega-9 is olive oil (73%) but other readily available sources include avocado oil (71%), canola oil (63%), peanut oil (46%) and rice-bran oil (39%).

Omega-9 oils only contain one “double bond” (I will explain later), so they are relatively stable at higher temperatures and are some of the better oils to use in cooking – lovely when combined with a little butter.
I will be covering Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats next.