- What are fats?
- How are lipids classified based on the structure?
- What are simple lipids?
- What are compound lipids?
- carbohydrate in glycolipids
- phosphorus in phospholipids
- proteins in lipoproteins
- What are derived lipids?
- What are steroids?
- animal steroids - cholesterol
- plant steroids - phytosterol
- What is cholesterol?
- What are fatty acids?
- What is an alcohol?
- What are waxes?
- What is the difference between the saturated and unsaturated fatty acids?
Saturated fats – example, ghee, butter.
Unsaturated fats – vegetable oils, olive oil, palm oil, etc.,
- What is the difference between essential and on essential fatty acids? Give example of each.
- What is the calorie value of fats?
- What is the RDA (recommended dietary allowances) value of fat?
- What are the functions of fats?
- The functions of fats are:
- They help in transport and absorption of fat soluble vitamins.
- They act as sources of essential fatty acids.
- Excess of fats gets stored in the fat deposits (adipose tissue)
- Fats supply fatty acids.
- Fats give support to vital organs like heart kidney and intestines.
- Fats beneath the skin provides insulation against cold.
- Some animal fats such as fish liver oil, butter, ghee, etc supply vitamin A
- Phospholipids are essential constituents of nervous tissue.
- At the time of starvation, stored fat can be used for energy generation.
- How does the digestion and absorption of fats take place?
Ingested fats +bile+ lipase
The bile emulsifies fats that is breaks down large fat globules into smaller molecules. These emulsified fats are subjected to the action of pancreatic lipase.
The pancreatic lipase breaks down the fats into fatty acids + monoglycerides
The end products of digestion are converted into very small droplets called miscelles. The miscelles are absorbed by the enterocytes.
Once inside the intestinal cells the fats are resynthesized into lipids that are characteristics of the animal species. The resynthesized lipids pass in the blood stream in the form of chylomicron molecules. The waste products formed after the digestion of fats gets excreted out.
Metabolism of fats
Once inside the intestinal cells the fats are resynthesized into lipids that are characteristics of the animal species. The resynthesized lipids pass in the blood stream in the form of chylomicron molecules. The waste products formed after the digestion of fats gets excreted out.
Metabolism of fats
- Short chain fatty acids enter the circulation directly but mostly fatty acids combine together with glycerol again and circulate in the form of chylomicrons.
- Lipoprotein lipase acts on chylomicrons to produce new fatty acids.
- These fatty acids get stored in the adipose tissue. During starvation, fatty acids are broken down in liver into ketone bodies.
- Liver helps in the synthesis of fatty acids and triglycerides from the by-products of carbohydrate digestion.
- It is an important site for the synthesis of cholesterol.
- It is a major site for the oxidation of fatty acids.
- It is a site for the formation of ketone bodies
- How is excess fat stored?