Lipid Characteristics

Lipids are compounds, generally fats or waxes, that are found in living entities, from animals to plants, so their reserves are made up of these.

One of the lipid characteristics It is their chemical diversity, they are formed mainly by carbon and hydrogen and in a smaller quantity they can have oxygen; there are lipids that can contain other components such as sulfur, phosphorus and nitrogen.

Lipids are food reserves, so in plants they are a kind of oil and animals are accumulations of reserve fat; This is why they are the main source of food and energy for living beings.

Lipid characteristics:

Chemistry.- Some lipids are made up of aliphatic chains that may or may not be saturated. They are generally linear in structure, although they can have a series of rings. Their chemical structure allows them to have flexibility, while others can be rigid; some share free carbons and others form hydrogen bonds.

Some lipids refract water, this is because they have a "non-polarity" or hydrophobicity, but this does not occur in other types of solvents such as thinner, acetone etc. There is also another parameter totally related to water (hydrophilic).

This last aspect is called "amphipathic character"

Classification.- Lipids are classified into three main branches that are further subdivided:

1. Fatty acids
   a) Saturated
   b) Unsaturated
2. Fatty acid lipids (saponifiable)
   a) Simple 1.Triacylglycerides 2.Waxes
   b) Complexes 1.- Phosphoglycerides 2. Stingolipids
3. Lipids without fatty acids
   a) Steraids
   b) Isoprenoids

Solubility.- Lipids are poorly soluble in water but their solubility is wide when dissolved in benzene.

Compound.- Lipids are formed by fats

Benefit.- The benefit that lipids produce in the body are energy storage, since they reach transport or provide between 7 and 9 kilo calories for each gram that is used in the bodies as fuel; Regarding lipids, they are capable of transporting fat-soluble proteins that are essential in the body of living beings, they produce the flavor of some foods.

Among the best known and most important are omegas 3, 6 and 9, which in some entities living beings like the human being, are not produced with sufficiency or are simply not produced by the bodies.

Hurt.- Saturated lipids or fatty acids are harmful to human beings because they cannot be metabolized, this produces medium and long-term damage in individuals who consume them in excess.