page_title: Alpha-Eleostearic acid
section_title: Biochemical properties
hierarchical_section_title: Alpha-Eleostearic acid / Biochemical properties
caption_attribution_description: English: Bitter melonTiếng Việt: Khổ qua, mướp đắngBân-lâm-gú: Khóo-kue. 苦瓜。 (Momordica charantia)
context_page_description: α-Eleostearic acid or-octadeca-9,11,13-trienoic acid, is an organic compound, a conjugated fatty acid and one of the isomers of octadecatrienoic acid. It is often called simply eleostearic acid although there is also a β-eleostearic acid. Its high degree of unsaturation gives tung oil its properties as a drying oil.
context_section_description: In their pioneering work on essential fatty acids, Burr, Burr and Miller compared the nutritional properties of α-eleostearic acid (ELA) to that of its isomer alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).  ALA relieved essential fatty acid deficiency; ELA did not.
  In rats, α-eleostearic acid is converted to a conjugated linoleic acid. The compound has been found to induce programmed cell death of fat cells, and of HL60 leukemia cells in vitro at a concentration of 20 μM.  Diets containing 0.01% bitter gourd seed oil (0.006% as α-eleostearic acid) were found to prevent azoxymethane-induced colon carcinogenesis in rats.
caption: α-Eleostearic acid makes up about 60% of the fatty acids from bitter gourd oil.
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