In this video, we're going to take a look at omega fatty acids. Now remember, we have alpha, which means beginning, and omega, which means the end. So, omega must have something to do with the end of our fatty acid chain. Here we're going to say, unsaturated fatty acids can be classified by the first double bond, numbering from our methyl carbon. The methyl carbon is the end carbon of my fatty acid chain, and therefore, it represents my omega carbon. If we take a look here, it says we have an omega-3 fatty acid. That means the first double bond is located at the 3rd carbon. If this is our methyl group right here, so this is our omega carbon. And we're going to say we count 1, 2, 3 to get to the double bond. So carbon number 3 is where we get to our double bond. That's why this is an omega-3 fatty acid.
In an omega-6 fatty acid, the first double bonded carbon is located at the 6th position. Here we're going to say, here is our omega again, this methyl group right here, and just count to see how long it takes you to get to the double bond. We go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. We had to count to 6 to get to that double bond. That's why this is an omega-6 fatty acid.
So, again, just remember, when we talk about omega fatty acids, they can be omega-3 or omega-6. And here, we look at the methyl group at the end of the fatty acid chain, and count to see how far it takes us, how long it takes us to get to the double bond. Does it take us to the count of 3, making it an omega-3 fatty acid, or do we have to count to 6 to make it an omega-6 fatty acid?
