Cholesterol and Other Lipids: Essential Part of Balance Diet

We are going to discuss one of the most important ingredients of our regular diet. Plenty of words used to explain the single word oil in our diet. Irrespective of the benefits of any food we eat, it is very important to have balanced diet. Anything which we intake too excess or avoiding them completely is harmful to health. It is similar in case of fats.

What are Lipids?

Lipids, together with carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids, are one of the four major classes of biologically essential organic molecules found in all living organisms. Their amounts and quality in the diet are able to influence cell, tissue and body physiology. Cholesterol and triglycerides are lipids. Lipids are easily stored in the body and serve as a source of fuel when needed. It is an important constituent of the structure of cells.

Lipids include fatty acids, neutral fats, waxes and steroids (like cortisone). Compound lipids (lipids complexed with another type of chemical compound) comprise the lipoproteins, glycolipids and phospholipids.

What are Fats?

Fats are one of the members of a group of water-insoluble substances called “lipids.” As it is mentioned above Lipids are important to you because they are the primary components of your cell membranes. Fats both in foods and in your body are simply storage units composed of fatty acids. Type of fat depends on the specific combination of fatty acids. Fatty acids have three basic purposes in your body:

• Providing energy
• Providing the building blocks for cell membranes
• Acting as raw materials that can be converted to other substances that perform special duties in your body such as hormones.

What are Fatty Acids?

Molecules that are long chains of lipid-carboxylic acid found in fats and oils and in cell membranes as a component of phospholipids and glycolipids. Fatty acids come from animal and vegetable fats and oils. Fatty acids play roles outside the body, they are used as lubricants, in cooking and food engineering, and in the production of soaps, detergents, and cosmetics.

Fatty acids are the building blocks of the fat in our bodies and in the food we eat. During digestion, the body breaks down fats into fatty acids, which can then be absorbed into the blood. Fatty acid molecules are usually joined together in groups of three, forming a molecule called a triglyceride. Triglycerides are also made in our bodies from the carbohydrates that we eat.

Fatty acids have many important functions in the body, including energy storage. If glucose (a type of sugar) isn’t available for energy, the body uses fatty acids to fuel the cells instead.

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that’s found in all cells of the body. Your body needs some cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. However, cholesterol is also found in some of the foods that you eat. Cholesterol travels through your bloodstream in small packages called lipoproteins. These packages are made of fat (lipid) from the inside and proteins on the outside.

What are Oils?

Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature, like the vegetable oils used in cooking. Oils come from many different plants and from fish. Oils contain more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Oils are NOT a food group, but they provide essential nutrients.
Most oils are high in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats and low in saturated fats. Oils from plant sources (vegetable and nut oils) do not contain any cholesterol. In fact, no plant foods contain cholesterol. A few plant oils, however, including coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil, are high in saturated fats and for nutritional purposes should be considered to be solid fats.

Based on the classification of each term above, there are good fats and bad fats, good fatty acids and bad fatty acids and so on.