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6.1: Introduction

  • Page ID
    80520
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    Various types and shapes of glass bottles of oil

    Learning Objectives
    1. Describe the types of lipids: triglycerides (fat), phospholipids, and sterols.
    2. Explain the functions of lipids in the body and in food production.
    3. Distinguish between essential and nonessential fatty acids.
    4. Describe the Dietary Recommended Intake (DRI) for lipids.
    5. Evaluate a meal for the relative abundance of lipids.
    6. Provide strategies for choosing healthy foods that contain lipids.
    7. Summarize the steps in lipid digestion.
    8. Explain the health consequences of lipid excess and deficiency.
    9. Describe the relationship between nutrition and cardiovascular disease.

    Lipids are a category of nutrients that include fats and cholesterol. Like carbohydrates, fat is an essential macronutrient that provides energy. In this chapter we will explore the role these lipids have in our body’s everyday function, along with what happens to our health when we overeat or undereat lipids. Heart disease will be highlighted throughout this chapter as a condition that is impacted by our lifestyle choices, including dietary lipid intake. The Mediterranean diet will be introduced as an example of a healthy food plan that combines the value of carbohydrates from our prior chapter with the value of fats learned in this chapter.

    Cover Art: "Cottonseed Oil" by cottonseedoil is licensed under CC BY 2.0.


    This page titled 6.1: Introduction is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jan Dowell and Erin Shanle (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI)) .

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