**7. Conclusion**

Vegetable oils rich in essential fatty acids have been consumed instead of animal oils due to their high potential of production scalability, and because the fish oil market has not been able to satisfactorily meet the current consumers' demands. Several commercial applications have been developed with wide acceptability, and studies aimed at treating cardiovascular diseases and improving brain functions have reached promising results. In this sense, the use of plants as sources of fatty acids presents itself as a potential alternative not only in the economic scope, but also for human health.

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**Author details**

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: raulncj@ufpa.br

Ana Paula de Souza e Silva, Wanessa Almeida da Costa,

Flávia Cristina Seabra Pires, Maria Caroline Rodrigues Ferreira, Eduardo Gama Ortiz Menezes, Glides Rafael Olivo Urbina, Jhonatas Rodrigues Barbosa and Raul Nunes de Carvalho\*

*Commercial and Therapeutic Potential of Plant-Based Fatty Acids*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81122*

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Program of Post-Graduation Food Science and Technology (LABEX)/FEA (Faculty of Food Engineering), Federal University of Para (UFPA), Belém, Pará, Brazil

Marielba de Los Angeles Rodriguez Salazar, Priscila do Nascimento Bezerra,

*Commercial and Therapeutic Potential of Plant-Based Fatty Acids DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81122*

*Biochemistry and Health Benefits of Fatty Acids*

attention [110, 111].

also for human health.

**7. Conclusion**

to neurological, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric disorders, since diets with high cholesterol rates increase the risk of developing such diseases, whereas diets with low saturated-fat intake reduce the risk of dementia [100–102], confirming the

The hypothesis that diet-induced changes affect brain circulation may be linked to changes in brain structure [103, 104]. The fatty acid content may affect the production and function of dopamine and serotonin [105], since omega-series fatty acids are fundamental for the maintenance of dopaminergic function in the brain, whereas irregularities of these fatty acids can interfere in the function of the dopaminergic receptors [104]. Healthy aging of humans on a regular diet was associated with neuroprotective properties, such as increased volume of the cortex's gray matter, higher total brain volume, and less white matter hyperintensities (lesions) [106], whereas high-energy transfat diets are associated with increased brain atrophy, and reduced total brain volume and numbers of neurons [107]. Adequate dietary intake of fatty acids or their precursors is also important during the perinatal period (before and after the baby's birth), since to ensure the normal development of the brain, newborns need more lipids than adults do. They are essential for fetal growth and development, and for neurological, behavioral, and learning functions [108–110]. Therefore, insufficient supplementation during early life may also aid in the development of diseases related to poor brain development, such as coordination disorder, dyspraxia (neurological motor dysfunction), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [109]. And the ingestion of fatty acids, mainly of the ω-3 type, positively affects the functioning and development throughout life, increasing cognitive functionality, such as learning, memory, and

Vegetable oils rich in essential fatty acids have been consumed instead of animal oils due to their high potential of production scalability, and because the fish oil market has not been able to satisfactorily meet the current consumers' demands. Several commercial applications have been developed with wide acceptability, and studies aimed at treating cardiovascular diseases and improving brain functions have reached promising results. In this sense, the use of plants as sources of fatty acids presents itself as a potential alternative not only in the economic scope, but

important role of diet in pathological mechanisms related to the brain.

**80**
