The Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences 1995 Young Scientist Award Lecture. Recent studies on the synthesis, beta-oxidation, and deficiency of linoleate and alpha-linolenate: are essential fatty acids more aptly named indispensable or conditionally dispensable fatty acids?

Recent research on the synthesis, beta-oxidation, and deficiency of linoleate and alpha-linolenate raises questions about whether the term essential fatty acid is outdated. Linoleate and alpha-linolenate can be synthesized from their respective 16-carbon precursors, which are present in the human diet; whether the rate of conversion and dietary supply of the precursors are sufficient depends on the actual requirement for linoleate and alpha-linolenate. Pure deficiency of linoleate (diet excluding linoleate but including alpha-linolenate and oleate) has not been studied until recently, so it is unclear whether the recommended linoleate intake at 2% of energy, as based on classical essential fatty acid deficiency studies, is appropriate or too high. Despite marked whole-body depletion of linoleate and poor conservation of linoleate stores, pure linoleate deficiency has little effect on growth in rats, suggesting its requirement may be less than 2% of energy. Whole-body fatty acid balance studies indicate that the main route of linoleate and alpha-linolenate metabolism is oxidation, which increases sufficiently that accumulation of dietary linoleate and alpha-linolenate may actually be prevented in undernutrition and fasting refeeding. Part of the oxidized carbon from linoleate and alpha-linolenate is recycled and used for de novo synthesis of "non-essential" fatty acids and cholesterol, which in the brain of the suckling rat, can exceed conversion to longer chain polyunsaturates by as much as 10- to 40-fold. Given the capability to synthesize linoleate and alpha-linolenate, the imprecise knowledge of true linoleate requirement, and the absence of clear symptoms of their deficiency in healthy adults, it might be advantageous to consider using the terms indispensable and conditionally dispensable to clarify the conditional nature of the dietary requirement for linoleate and alpha-linolenate.