Protons (53) a formula

A couple of things came up in emails recently. First is that I never mention that I had a chat with Ally Houston on the Paleocanteen podcast. It was fun. I think I sound like me. It's here

https://paleocanteen.co.uk/peter-dobromylskyj-hyperlipid/

Second is that karl asked if there was a general formula for working out the F:N ratio for assorted fatty acids.

Edit: cavenewt pointed out that for people unfamiliar with the FADH2:NADH ratio concept there is a reasonable introduction at Protons: FADH2:NADH ratios and MUFA. PubMed-ing Dave Speijer and CoQ makes good reading too. End edit.

There wasn't but given a few minutes and some algebra it works out like this for even-numbered, fully saturated fatty acids of carbon skeleton length n:

F/N   =   (n-1)/(2n-1)

So stearate (C18) is 0.486

Palmitate (C16) is 0.484

Caprylate (C8) is 0.467



For MUFA/PUFA you just subtract one FADH2 per double bond (db). This doesn't affect the NADH term.

F/N  =  (n-1-db)/(2n-1)

Oleate (db = 1) is 0.457

Oleate is the MUFA of stearate. Saturated fats allow us to resist insulin, MUFA allow insulin to act.

Linoleic acid, also C18 but with two double bonds, gives 0.429

This is lower than stearate or oleate. The switch for ROS generation occurs between roughly 0.486 (high physiological ROS) and 0.457 (low physiological ROS). LA is lower than oleic acid.

Glucose has an F/N ratio, from memory, of 0.2 so LA is the "glucose-like" of the common fatty acids, in Mike Eades' terminology, and so will fail to generate fatty acid appropriate ROS. Which will allow continued insulin action when it should be resisted. That will make you fat, and the loss of calories in to adipocytes will make you hungry. The exact opposite of stearic acid...

Happy New Year all.

Peter