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Most natural fats contain a complex mixture of individual triglycerides. Because of their heterogeneity, they melt over a broad range of temperatures. Cocoa butter is unusual in that it is composed of only a few triglycerides, derived from palmitic , oleic , and stearic acids in the 1-, 2-, and 3-positions of glycerol, respectively.
Triglycerides, stored in adipose tissue, are a major form of energy storage both in animals and plants. They are a major source of energy in aerobic respiration. The complete oxidation of fatty acids releases about 38 kJ/g (9 kcal/g ), compared with only 17 kJ/g (4 kcal/g) for the oxidative breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins .
In the process, 3 molecules of water are eliminated. The word "triglyceride" refers to the number of fatty acids esterified to one molecule of glycerol. In triglycerides, the three fatty acids are rarely similar and are thus called pure fats. For example, tripalmitin, tristearin, etc.
Triglycerides, as major components of very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and chylomicrons, play an important role in metabolism as energy sources and transporters of dietary fat. They contain more than twice as much energy (approximately 9 kcal/g or 38 kJ/g) as carbohydrates (approximately 4 kcal/g or 17 kJ/g). [9]
Thus carbon α is C-2, carbon β is C-3, and so forth. Although fatty acids can be of diverse lengths, in this second convention the last carbon in the chain is always labelled as ω , which is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. A third numbering convention counts the carbons from that end, using the labels "ω", "ω−1", "ω−2".
Glycerol has three hydroxyl functional groups, which can be esterified with one, two, or three fatty acids to form mono-, di-, and triglycerides. [2] These structures vary in their fatty acid alkyl groups as they can contain different carbon numbers, different degrees of unsaturation, and different configurations and positions of olefins. [1]
Examples of these lipids include cholesterol and triglycerides. The concentration of blood lipids depends on intake and excretion from the intestine , and uptake and secretion from cells . Hyperlipidemia is the presence of elevated or abnormal levels of lipids and/or lipoproteins in the blood , and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular ...
A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched chain of carbon (C) atoms.