Translations:Triglyceride/11/en

In nature, the formation of triglycerides is not random; rather, specific fatty acids are selectively condensed with the hydroxyl functional groups of glycerol. Animal fats typically have unsaturated fatty acid residues on carbon atoms 1 and 3. Extreme examples of non-random fats are cocoa butter (mentioned above) and lard, which contains about 20% triglyceride with palmitic acid on carbon 2 and oleic acid on carbons 1 and 3. An early step in the biosynthesis is the formation of the glycerol-1-phosphate: