Fat
Structure of fats:
Fats, also called lipids, are one of the five energy sources, along with carbohydrates, proteins, ketones and alcohol . Chemically, they consist of two types of building blocks: The trivalent alcohol glycerol and three fatty acids. The two types of building blocks consist of the elements carbon (C), oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H). The three fatty acids are bonded to the three bonding possibilities of glycerol via an oxygen atom. This process is called esterification. The bonded fatty acids can have the same structure, but they are usually different fatty acids. They differ on the one hand in their chain length and on the other hand in the number of double bonds they contain(saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids) (Fig. 1) (1).
- Matthew, B. (2014). Fats and oils: basic knowledge and practical use. Ernährungs Umschau (3/2014), 162-170.