Short-chain triglycerides found in foods are split by what type of specific enzymes?
QUESTION: Short-chain triglycerides found in foods are split by what type of specific enzymes? Could you please expand it?
ANSWER: Hi,
The full name for the triglycerides is triacylglycerol. This molecule is composed of glycerol and three molecules of fatty acids.
Under the affect of pancreatic lipase, this molecule is split into glycerol and fatty acids. In this way, the organism can use these substances for energy or for constructive elements.
Furthermore, these fatty acids are playing the role of second messengers in the organism, which means that they are participating in the conduction of the signal crated by hormones for example.
A way of providing triglycerides to the organism is by food, but interesting here is that they may keep the same structure without getting segmented.
They can be stored in the liver or in the muscles or in fat cells, and to be segmented when the organism needs energy.
These molecules are included in the structure of the lipoproteins, which are transporting the cholesterol in the organism. When you have high amount of triglycerides in your organism, bad cholesterol or also called LDL, is not stable and it can be harmed easily.
That leads to the development of atherosclerosis, which may cause your death. That is the reason why you have to check the amount of triglycerides in your blood because sometimes, the pancreatic lipase of yours can not split all the molecules.
As a consequence, an elevation of triglycerides and more severe effects are observed.
All the best!
Dr.Alba
What are medium chain triglycerides?
QUESTION: What are these medium chain triglycerides? How do they differ from other types of triglycerides? What is their role?
ANSWER: Hi,
As per their name, medium chain triglycerides (TG) are those types of TG that contain a medium-chain fatty acid esters of glycerol. Usually, they consist of six to twelve carbons (C).
With regards to their medium-chain fatty acids, they consist of lauric acid (C12); capric acid (C10); caprylic acid (C8) and caproic acid (C6).
How do medium-chain TG differ from other types of TG?
2.Foods that are high in medium-chain TG (MCT) include milk fats of horses; while long-chain TG can be found in humans & guinea pigs milk, and milk fats of goats, sheep and cows are rich in short-chain TG.
3.As the MCT are more soluble in water than other types of TG, therefore, our body can use them very easily as an efficient source of energy for its needs.
Furthermore, our body wouldn't get it hard to utilize them as it does with long-chain TG.
4.There are various diseases, which are treated with MCT supplementation, including Waldmann's disease or/and epilepsy as they are part of a ketogenic diet that has been found efficase to treat epilepsy.
In addition, parenteral emulsions or infant formula do contain MCT for easy digestion.
5.They are widely used as solvents in the preparation of flavors, vitamins and medications that are used orally.
The only concern is related to ketogenesis, and therefore, diabetic patients are not advised to use foods or parenteral emulsions containing MCT to avoid further problems.
Dr.Alba
Further reading:
National Library of Medicine.
