Dietary fats: classification, application, calories

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The word "fat" alone terrifies many people. After all, right there in the mind there is an association with a fat body and hanging sides. However, dietary fats are the real fuel for our body. Unlike carbohydrates and proteins, they have a high energy content.

Fat is the most important food component, which must necessarily come to us from the outside. At the same time, it must be balanced with the necessary amount of carbohydrates and proteins.

Dietary fat and fat in our body are concepts, though interconnected, but still different. The first of them means a rather valuable product, the role of which is rather difficult to overestimate. The nutritional properties of fats allow them to become active participants in the vital processes that take place in our body. In other words, without them, the normal operation of all our organs and systems is impossible.

Valuable product features

Dietary fats are a kind of fuel for the human body. When processing just one gram of them, 9 kilocalories are released, which is two and a half times more than carbohydrates and proteins. ATthis is the energy function of fats. In addition, this element is necessary to perform plastic or structural activity.

This is due to the fact that fats are an integral part of tissues and cell membranes. Without their required amount, metabolic processes are disrupted in our cells. This negatively affects the body's supply of nutrients. In addition, the lack or excessive excess of fatty acids leads to the fact that the cells lose the ability to get rid of all the "waste" they have developed. This threatens them with slagging, which adversely affects he alth.

In our body, dietary fats also perform the function of a regulator. Without their presence in the cells of tissues and organs, the absorption of such fat-soluble vitamins as A and C, E K becomes impossible. Moreover, these important components are one of the components of hormones.

Fat also has a transport function. It is expressed in the assistance provided in the movement of various substances through the body.

The need for fats lies in their protective function. After all, these components protect our body from temperature effects, and internal organs from mechanical impact.

Classification

How are dietary fats classified? The classification of these products provides for division by type of feedstock, as well as by consistency. They are:

1. Based on initial product:

- animals (dairy, beef, pork, mutton, bone and fish);

- vegetable (obtained from fruits, nuts and seeds of plants);- combined - produced from various raw materials (margarine, confectionery fat, spreads).

2. Based on consistency:

- solid (most animal fats, as well as cocoa butter, coconut and palm); - liquid (the bulk of vegetable oils made from seeds and fruits).

Fats, which are part of the class of lipids, or, as experts call them, triglycerides, are natural organic compounds. They contain complex full esters and monobasic fatty acids.

It is worth noting that liquid vegetable fats, like butter, are called oils.

The body's need for fats

This product is slowly broken down in the gastrointestinal tract, as it is in an inaccessible state for enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract. Further, it is deposited in the layers of subcutaneous fat as a neutral reserve. Subsequently, such fat is used as an energy source.

What is the daily human need for this product? It all depends on age and energy consumption. For example, it is enough for older people to include 75-80 grams of fat in their diet.

Of all the existing types of this product, about thirty percent should be the use of vegetable oils. But it must be remembered that fats are an integral part of most foods. There are many of them in fish and meat, cheese and confectionery.

Nutritional value

This indicator has different values depending on the type of fat and its digestibility by the body. And this, in turn, is directly dependent on the melting point of the product. For example, fats with a low melting point (below 37 degrees) are most fully and quickly emulsified in the digestive tract, and, therefore, are easily absorbed. Which products best meet these parameters? These are pork and goose fat, butter, liquid fats and all kinds of margarines.

Foods with a high melting point are much worse absorbed by the body. So, if this figure for butter is 98.5%, then for lamb fat it is in the range of 80-90%. But the human body absorbs beef fat by 80-94%.

Energy value

As mentioned above, dietary fats are a kind of fuel for our body. So, in one hundred grams of cow butter, depending on its type, there are from 570 to 750 kcal. The same indicator in margarines is 750 kcal, and in melted animal fats and vegetable oils - 890 kcal.

Benign fats

How to determine the suitability for consumption of such a valuable product for our body? Benign creamy little has a white-cream or light yellow color. At the same time, it does not have any foreign smells and tastes. It also has a homogeneous texture. The same characteristics distinguish real homemade butter. The melted product has a softgrainy texture. At the same time, when it passes into the molten state, it loses color and is distinguished by the absence of impurities.

Quality sunflower oil deodorized transparent, no taste and no sediment. It may have little or no odor. As for the unrefined species, they are distinguished by the presence of sediment, which is up to one and a half percent of the total volume of this plant product.

Junk fats

Do not eat creamy little, which has an unpleasant bitter taste, pungent odor and rancidity (darkening of the surface). The poor quality of this product is evidenced by the taste of stearin candles, lard, greening, the presence of mold, etc. Butter that has a darkened edge can be peeled and eaten.

The poor quality of vegetable oils will tell their rancid, burning or pungent taste and smell. These products are not recommended for consumption. After all, they accumulate elements of the breakdown of fats, and also lose vitamins and essential acids.

Application

Where are processed fats used? They find their application in the following areas:

- food industry;

- pharmaceuticals;

- manufacture of cosmetics and soaps;- production of lubricants.

The main use of animal fats is in the culinary field. Here they are used as food. Among them are sheep,pork and beef. But from the tissues of fish and marine mammals, not only edible fats are produced, but also veterinary (feed), medical and technical ones. What is the use of this type of fat? As for the veterinary product, its main purpose is to feed farm birds and animals. What is the area of application of industrial fats? They are used in the perfumery and chemical industries, as well as in other areas of the national economy in order to produce defoamers and detergents, leather processing, lipsticks and creams.

Use in cooking

All chefs are well aware of the fact that the taste of cooked dishes largely depends not only on the quality and type of the main product, but also on the fat used for it. If this component does not comply, the quality of the dishes deteriorates significantly.

For example, melted fat from beef or pork fat is not suitable for baking pancakes with jam. This combination can only be used by an inept and inexperienced cook.

To give a delicate and delicate taste to many dishes, butter is used in their preparation. Most often this product is used for sandwiches. Its melted appearance is poured over ready-made dishes from gourmet and dietary products. Oil is also used for seasoning sauces.

For hot meat dishes, as well as when frying some varieties of flour products, lard and beef lard are used. Lamb fat is successfully used in Central Asian and Caucasian cuisines.

Cooks use vegetable oils whenrecipes require the use of non-hardening fat.

Need to use

Without fat, one of the most important culinary processes is impossible - frying. Only with its help the cook can bring the original product to a high temperature. At the same time, meat, fish or vegetables are protected from ignition and combustion. During the frying process, a thin layer of fat is created between the product and the bottom of the dish. This promotes even heating.

When frying, another useful quality of fat becomes apparent. It dissolves some aromatic and coloring substances contained in vegetables. This greatly improves the smell and appearance of the food.

Using palm oil

This product has been used in Russia relatively recently. The production of oil has been established from the fruits of the palm tree, which is called oilseed.

Where is this dietary fat used? This herbal product is most commonly used in baked goods, as well as in the production of long-term confectionery products.

Palm oil has interesting physical and chemical properties. That is why it was included in the list of the most common types of vegetable fats produced on our planet. This is due to its low cost and availability. Palm oil has another attractive quality. Due to its good oxidation stability, it can be stored for a long time.

The most common use of thisvegetable fat is the food industry. It is used in the manufacture of biscuit rolls and waffles, creams and cakes. It is also used for frying semi-finished products. The calorie content of this vegetable fat is 884 kcal.

Many products are indispensable without palm oil. So, it is included in the composition of condensed milk and processed cheese, it is added to cottage cheese and cottage cheese desserts. This oil is also a substitute for milk fat. In addition to the food industry, the product is used in the manufacture of soap and candles, as well as in cosmetology (for moisturizing and softening the skin).

Using confectionery fat

This product is made mainly from vegetable raw materials. However, it may contain pork or beef fat. Contains confectionery fat and whale lard. One of the ingredients of the product is also coconut or palm oil.

Confectionery fat is a white solid with a slight yellowish tint. As for its taste and consumer characteristics, they primarily depend on the composition. For example, confectionery fat used for bakery products includes up to 65 percent vegetable and whale lard, as well as up to 22 percent vegetable oil. Sometimes the recipe contains palm oil, which gives the final product a specific taste.

The use of confectionery fat allows you to bind together the components used. In addition, products made on its basis have improved nutritionalcharacteristics. The calorie content of this fat is 897 kcal.

Margarine

This product belongs to the group of combined fats. It is produced with the participation of constant technochemical and laboratory control. The main raw material for the manufacture of margarine is various types of vegetable and animal fats. The first of these include soybean, sunflower and cottonseed oils. And whale blubber is often used as animal fat.

The prepared raw materials are brought to a solid state and a homogeneous consistency of the mixture is achieved.

Margarine is used to prepare various types of dishes, as well as for baking some flour products. Add it to minced vegetables and meat.

Margarine is also suitable for deep-frying. Indeed, even with very strong heating, it does not acquire a taste of bitterness and the smell of a child. The calorie content of the product is 570 kcal.