| Popis: |
Dietary fat is an energy-dense nutrient that provides essential fatty acids (FAs) and aids in fat-soluble vitamin absorption. When dietary fat absorption becomes dysregulated, it contributes to altered blood lipid levels and metabolic disease risk. Triacylglycerol (TAG), the major form of dietary fat, is efficiently absorbed (>95%). Its digestive products are taken up by enterocytes, the absorptive cells of the small intestine, and rapidly resynthesized into TAG. This resynthesized TAG is either incorporated into chylomicrons (CMs) and secreted into circulation via lymph for delivery to peripheral tissues or incorporated into cytoplasmic lipid droplets (CLDs). Alternatively, digestive products of dietary fat may also be incorporated into other complex lipids, act as signaling molecules, or serve as an energy source. This chapter provides an overview of dietary fat absorption and highlights questions about this process that remain unanswered. |
