information:highlighting, structural:scholar_edition
Nutritional and health aspects

The most common type of fat, in human diet and most living beings, is a triglyceride, an ester of the triple alcohol glycerol H(–CHOH–) H and three fatty acids. The molecule of a triglyceride can be described as resulting from a condensation reaction (specifically, esterification) between each of glycerol's –OH groups and the HO– part of the carboxyl group HO(O=)C− of each fatty acid, forming an ester bridge −O−(O=)C− with elimination of a water molecule H O.

Other less common types of fats include diglycerides and monoglycerides, where the esterification is limited to two or just one of glycerol's –OH groups. Other alcohols, such as cetyl alcohol (predominant in spermaceti), may replace glycerol. In the phospholipids, one of the fatty acids is replaced by phosphoric acid or a monoester thereof.The benefits and risks of various amounts and types of dietary fats have been the object of much study, and are still highly controversial topics.