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From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Omega-3 fatty acids
Summary: Unfamiliar with the term...
Message-ID: <3531@kitty.UUCP>
Date: 2 Dec 89 00:39:08 GMT
References: <859@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM>
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 18

In article <859@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM>, dant@mrloog.WR.TEK.COM (Dan Tilque) writes:
> Does anyone know the origin of the name "omega-3 fatty acids"?  Somewhere
> I heard that the name derives from the shape of the molecule.  If that's
> so, is the molecule shaped like three omegas or like an omega and a 3?

	I've not encountered the term "omega-3 fatty acid", or anything
similar.  If you could give me a more specific clue as to the type of
fatty acid, it may jog my memory.

	The only thing even remotely similar to what you mention is the
case of some fatty acids whose hydrocarbon chain is not straight and
linear, but instead has a somewhat U-shaped bend in its middle.  An
example is oleic acid, which has a bend whose apex is at the cis bond.

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