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Article: Fats
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- Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Fats
Lipids are organic substances consisting mostly of carbons and hydrogen
atoms
. They are hydrophobic, which means that they have little or no affinity to water. All lipids are soluble (or dissolvable) in nonpolar solvents, such as ether, alcohol, and gasoline. There are three families of lipids: (1) fats, (2) phospholipids, and (3) steroids.
Fatty acids and glycerol make up the larger molecule of fats. A fatty acid consists of a long carbon skeleton of 16 or 18 carbon atoms, though some are even longer. The carbonyl group, which is a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom and single-bonded to an oxygen attached to a hydrogen (OH-C=O), is the acidic group of the fatty acids. ...