![]() Two major groups of EFAs in human nutrition are alpha-linoleic acid (an example of omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an example of omega-6 fatty acid).ĭietary fats are digested and degraded into fatty acids and glycerol through hydrolysis. They are referred to as essential because they are not easily synthesized in the body and therefore are obtained in the diet. Animal triglycerides are important energy source and present in adipose tissues, bloodstream, and heart muscle.ĭietary fats are exemplified by essential fatty acids (EFAs). As such, it would apparently resemble a letter “E”. A triglyceride is a glycerol with three fatty acids attached by ester bonds. Examples of phospholipids include phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylserine, lecithin, plasmalogens and sphingomyelins. They form the lipid bilayer in cell membranes of organisms. Phospholipids serve as a major structural component of most biological membranes. A phospholipid is a lipid consisting of a glycerol bound to two fatty acids and a phosphate group. Cholesterol in animal cell membranes also enables the animal cells to change shape and therefore are rather flexible than plant cells (which are less flexible in shape due to the presence of the cell wall). Because of cholesterol that provides cell membrane structural integrity and fluidity, animal cells need not to have cell walls such as that in bacterial and plant cells. ![]() Cholesterol is a sterol or a modified steroid that is synthesized by animal cells to become an essential component of animal cell membranes. TypesĮxamples of fats are cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides. Lard, for example, would have long hydrocarbon chains, i.e. Nevertheless, most dietary fats have medium to longer chains of fatty acids of equal (or nearly equal) length. When the fatty acid chains are glycerated, the resulting fat molecule may therefore have varying lengths. A fatty acid with an aliphatic tail of 22 or more carbons is called very long chain fatty acid. A long-chain fatty acid is one that has an aliphatic tail of 13 to 21 carbons. Medium-chain fatty acid is one that has an aliphatic tail of 6 to 12 carbons. A fatty acid with aliphatic tail of five or fewer carbons is called a short-chain fatty acid. The fatty acid constituent of a fat molecule may also vary in length. Saturated fats stack in a tightly packed arrangement and therefore solidify rather easily at room temperature. The long hydrocarbon chains tend to form intermolecular attraction (particularly, van der Waals forces). Fats are solid at room temperature because they are mostly comprised of long hydrocarbon chains or saturated fatty acids. ![]() This means that saturated fatty acids cannot absorb additional hydrogen atoms in which unsaturated fatty acids can. Saturated fatty acids lack unsaturated linkages between carbon atoms. The fatty acid component of fat molecules is mostly saturated. They may be classified based on the nature of covalent bond: (1) unsaturated fatty acid and (2) saturated fatty acid. Fatty acids pertain to any of the group of a long chain of hydrocarbon with a carboxylic acid at the beginning and a methyl end. Fats are generally hydrophobic.Īs for the structure, fats are derived from fatty acids and glycerol. Similar to other lipids, fats are soluble in organic solvents and insoluble in water. Thus, fats belong to a group of molecules, the hydrocarbons. A fatty acid pertains to any long chain of hydrocarbon with a single carboxylic group and aliphatic tail. ![]()
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