Student ID#
Western Governors University
05/21/2015
Biochemistry Task 5- Lipids
A.
Fat is stored in the body and used as an energy source when not enough energy is available from food. This process involves dismantling the stored fat in fat cells and releasing the components into the bloodstream. The major storage form of fats in our body are triglycerides, which are made up of three fatty acids bound to glycerol. Adipocytes are primary cells that store fat in the triglyceride form. White adipose cells are used to store energy (O’Malley, M. 2014).
1.
Triglycerides are the storage molecules that are broken down and used to produce ATP. The triglycerides break down into two different items, glycerol and fatty acids. The triglycerides are formed when glycerol binds to three fatty acid molecules. The fatty acids each break down into 2 carbon parts. Each part of the carbon makes Acetyl CoA. The Acetyl CoA molecule then enters the Citric Acid Cycle before it moves on to the next step, the electron transport chain. The end result of each of these steps is the production of 12 ATP (Hudon-Miller, 2012).
B.
1. Saturated fats do not contain a carbon-carbon double bond. Unsaturated fats contain at least on carbon-carbon double bond. The saturated fatty acid chains can stack while the unsaturated fatty acid chains are kinked by the double bond.
2. Saturated fats have a high melting point and are solid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats have a low melting point and are liquid at room temperature due to the fatty acid chains that are not able to stack.
3. Saturated fatty acids are primarily animal based while unsaturated fats are primarily plant based sources (Sanders, 2013).
2. Fatty acids have many functions in the body and play a role in the following: 1. They provide and store energy
