Here i am finally doing something OTHER than protein, i think i have an obsession with them or something :S
This here is about lipids, now first things first, lipids are basically fat but…….
This is not the type of fat I’m talking about…sure they may be related but….. OMG she’s like just eating the whole bloody cake, like wow..ummm yhhh.
The Basics
Anywho, this video firstly begins with the PenguinProf, who by the way makes some of my favorite educational videos 🙂 , speaking about oils.
Now it is pretty important that she began mentioning oils, why? Duh! Oils are made up of lipids!
- Lipids are important molecules in the body and can provide alot of energy when needed.
- All lipids are hydrophobic
- Are used for long term energy storage
- Are building blocks for membranes, and hormones
The PenguinProf starts off with the mentioning of phospho lipids, which are the components of cell membranes. Their structure is made up of a glycerol backbone, a fatty acid chain, a phosphate group and a variable side group.
The second group she begins to mention is Steroids The most popular being cholesterol. Keep in mind that cholesterol is ONLY produced in animals so basically when products produced like plants say stuff like “100% cholesterol free” umm, its not like the manufactures took it out in the first place! 😛
Glycerides: A glyceride is an organic molecule which has a glycerol backbone attatched to fatty acid chains. Notice anything?
Isn’t that the description you commonly hear (as a bio/chem student) for fats? well when you are speaking of fats you are actually referring to glycerides, specifically Triglycerides, where the “Tri” comes from the fact that the glycerol backbone ha 3 carbons.
Fats/Glycerides can be of two forms, Saturated and Unsaturated. And I am sure you have at some point in time heard of them and asked what is the difference? What is it saturated or unsaturated with?
To be honest about a year ago I asked the same thing and now that I know the answer, I am so ashamed to say that I have been doing biology and chemistry for like…..5 years! T_T
Do you know what glycerides are saturated or unsaturated with?
Dietary Fats:
The PenguinProf mentions that there are 4 types of fats and indicates where they come from. Those being
- Saturated: commonly found in animal products (dairy, meats) and may be found in plant oils
- Mono=unsaturated (1 double bond): nuts, avacadoes
- Omega-6 polyunsaturated
- Omega-3 polyunsaturated
For the rest of the video she gives a brief ___ on the naming of Omega-3 and Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, followed by “Artificial Hrdrogenation” or “Partial Hydrogenation”. Now i found this part really interesting since i often end up reading ingredients etc at the back of my snack or whatever is in my hand (i don’t care if its sad i just like to know whats going inside me -_- ). SHe uses an example showing two triglycerieds, The natural one having three fatty acid chains namely linoleic(x2) and oleic acid. And the second triglyceride having stearic acid, oleic acid and oleic acid.
So……….via hydrogenation with H2 and Nickel catalyst (200-400F)
Linoleic acid -> Stearic acid
Linoleic acid -> oleic acid
Oleic acid -> oleic acid
However she did not mention exactly why it is done 😦
Trans Fats:
Trans fat like unsaturated fats have a C=C bond. But why are they different?
Both hydrogens (1 from each of the carbons) are located on the same vertical direction of the C=C (both are either above or below) where as in trans fat, one H is above whereas the other is below
Why does this make trans fat unique?
FInally she closes with how much fat should be consumed on a regular basis, and to save you the trouble of looking for that…
“No more than 7% of calories (15g) if saturated fat per day and avoid ALL trans fats”
Keep in mind of the serving size! 😀
My review:
Like i said at the beginning, this is one of my favoirite channels on Youtube (i actually have like 10) but I am not turn a blind eye to some faults in her work ofcourse
The Good:
- VIdeo and audio quality is clear, i personally hate background noise from echos of the room to static
- She asks alot of questions, and even though she doesn’t answer a few I feel eager to go and look it up while watching the video
- She is NOT boring 🙂
The Bad:
- A few things she could have gone on to explaining instead of doing it in a separate video
- Some of the questions like “why are trans fats bad” could have been answered
- The information being delivered is basic for any biochemist and should ONLY be used as a quick summary or to give general knowledge to someone who is new to biochem
biochemnewb 