Table Info

Table 2.

Roles and impacts of lipids in foods

Characteristic	Role
Chemical	Potential source of rancidity and off-flavours due to oxidation
Physical	Structure
	Bulk
	By interacting with other molecules, additional structural elements (e.g., complexing with carbohydrates)
	Carrier (with release control) of dissolved moieties (e.g., vitamins, colour, sweetness, flavour, and aroma)
	Coatings
	Emulsions (oil in water and water in oil)
	Cooking matrix (frying etc.)
	Responsive to thermal environment
Sensorial	Mouthfeel
	Flavour
	Encourage food consumption (perhaps excess)
Physiological	Essential fatty acids critical for human tissues
	Plant oils contain vitamin E
	Satiety
	Energy
	Animal fats associated with cholesterol content and impact on cardiovascular disease
	Contributes to obesity in excess

Declarations

Author contributions

XQ: Writing—review & editing. RT: Writing—original draft. Both authors read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

Both authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

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Availability of data and materials

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Funding

Not applicable.

Copyright

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