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Snapshot series 5: Fats
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Fat is familiar to us as a substance we eat in food and store in our body. Both have the same chemical structure known as triaclyglycerol (TAG), which, when overconsumed in food, accumulates as body fat and increases body weight. The average 70-kg (155-lb) man has about 15 kg (33 lb) of body fat, which is equivalent to 140,000 calories or 40 days of stored energy, but only 0.3 kg (10 oz) of stored carbohydrate (900 calories). The physical and chemical properties of fats (TAG) in food are determined by differences in their component fatty acids (FAs), which differ in size and number of carbon double bonds. Saturated fats are mainly derived from animal sources and are solid at room temperature due to a lack of double bonds (such as butter), while monounsaturated fats have one, and polyunsaturated fats have two or more double bonds, which turn these fats into liquid oils. These oils can be extracted from plant se...