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Fats and lipids in your diet
Fats
and lipids are necessary for a couple of reasons - they are high
concentrations of energy, contain fatty acids and acts as carrier of fat soluble
vitamins.
On the whole, the modern diet may contain too much fat, since
fat is contained in so many hidden items in our diet.
In nutrition, all fats, oils and fat-like substances are
classified as lipids and are all insoluble in water and are made up of carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen.
If a lipid is fluid at room temperature we normally refer to it
as oil, while if it is solid we normally refer to it as fat - but both
are mixtures of triglycerides.
Triglycerides are esters of glycerol containing three fatty
acids - normally two or three different ones. When hydrolysis is achieved by
heat or the enzymes lipase, glycerol, fatty acids,
diglycerides and monoglycerides are yielded.
Glycerol
Fatty acids
Oils from vegetable sources are mostly polyunsaturated except
for coconut oil, which is nearly 90% saturated. Saturated oils, mostly from
animal sources are also mostly solid at room temperature and require greater
temperatures to reach melting point.
Di-glycerides and mono-glycerides
Phospholipids are compounds found in cell membranes and
are essential for certain enzyme actions, the transport of lipids in plasma
and an energy source. One of the most abundant types are lecithin which
also contains choline - useful in preventing
the accumulation of fat in the liver.
Other interesting points
Products
Nutritional information
Zest for Life supplements
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