What are the implications of this?
My interpretation is that the fats on the bottom are the most fattening because they are very sticky to the adipocyte. While the fats on the top of the list are less fattening, because they are burned (oxidized) at a very fast rate. Acetic, propionic and butyric are made from the fermentation of dietary-fiber and resistant-starch mainly. These fats are extremely healthy and are reffered to as SCFA. The body actually burns these fats before it does carbohydrates. In fact these fats almost behave like carbohydrates in many ways (like the ability to inhibit lipolysis and gluconeogenesis).
Eating lauric-acid for instance would spare the oxidation of palmitic-acid. And I think that palmitic and stearic acids are not to be used as fuel for the body, they are meant to be stored away. Oxidizing FFAs comprised of palmitic and stearic acid causes insulin-resistance and free-radical production. In order for these fats to be oxidized, they must first be "desaturated" by the enzyme: delta-9-dessaturase, which is activated by insulin.
The fats in the middle of the list could have the potential to interfere with the oxidation of glucose. The Randle-Cycle states that only one fuel can be used by the body at a time. When the body is burning carbohydrates, fat burning is inhibited or drastically stalled and when the body is buring fat, carbohydrate oxidation is inhibited or stalled. Since the fats at the bottom of the list have a hard time oxidizing, they would be less likely to be used as fuel in the presence of carbohydrates and less likely to interfere with the oxidation of glucose (enabling better blood-sugar regulation).
Interesting to note is that fatty-acids stimulate the release of insulin to the degree of their rate of oxidation. Fats that have a hard time being oxidized (like palmitic-acid for example) makes the body secrete lots of insulin in the presence of glucose. Fats that have a intermediate effect on oxidation (like lauric or linoleic acids for example) secrete some insulin by not as much as palmitic, and the fats that are very prone to oxidation (acetic, propionic and butyric) don't make the pancreas secrete insulin at all.
This hierarchy of fatty-acids could also predict the insulinogenic potential of each fatty-acid. The reason I think this is so, is because the body doesn't like to burn long-chain saturated-fats, so they increase the secretion of insulin to: 1, to shuttle these fats back into the adipocyte and 2, enable the delta-9-desaturase enzymes. Hyperinsulinemia is caused by a large amount of circulating long-chain saturated FFAs, which are stimulating the release of insulin from the pancreas.
I know this sounds confusing, I have only just begun researching into this, but I do believe this is an accurate picture of fatty-acid metabolism so far...
Edited by misterE, 24 July 2015 - 05:33 PM.