Fast food intake and its influence on the production of N-acylethanolamines involved in the hunger-satiety cycle

In recent years, as a result of a greater offer of ‘fast food’ (FF), an increase has been induced in the quantity and caloric content of the foods consumed. The aim of this work was to carry out a review of the investigations related to the effect of fatty acids (FA) on the hunger-satiety cycle. Long-chain saturated FA predominate in FF, which tend to increase appetite. However, the N-acylethanolamines that are synthesized minutes after food intake can modulate appetite or satiety levels. This is due to the ability to induce different hormones secretion involved in orexigenic or anorexigenic signals activation. In contrast, unsaturated FA can secrete anorexigenic hormones that induce satiety, such as omegas 3 and 9, so it would be advisable to increase their proportion in the FF production process. Therefore, it is concluded that the type of effect that FA have on hunger-satiety cycle depends, on the one hand, on the length of their chain and, on the other hand, on the number of unsaturations contained in them.