ABSTRACT
Fats have become important to health for more reasons than caloric contributions to diet. Fats will always represent a rich source of food energy for humans and a considerable storage site for bodily caloric reserves. Consideration of fat intake must take into account more than merely calories, for instance, what type of fatty acids are present, their amounts, and relative ratios. Interactions with different body pools of fatty acids complicate the ability to quickly modulate fatty acid contents of cells by dietary or pharmacological means. Triglycerides represent the major storage and transport form of fatty acids. Triglycerides consist of three fatty acids esterified to a glycerol molecule. Fatty acids are lengths of hydrocarbon chains with a terminal carboxylic acid group. Trans fatty acids have almost the same molecular shape, size, and physical characteristics as saturated fatty acids. Fats and fatty acids differ substantially in physical properties. Long-chain fatty acids and their triglycerides are solids at room temperature, and termed fats.
