Dietary fat and starch

“Dietary fat and starch” are not individual molecules or molecular targets, but rather categories of macronutrients: fats (including triglycerides and fatty acids) and starches (complex carbohydrates, mainly polymers of glucose). They serve as major sources of energy in the diet and are substrates for metabolic processes: fats yield fatty acids for cellular energy and storage, participate in membrane formation, and absorb fat-soluble vitamins; starches are digested to glucose for energy or storage as glycogen, and play central roles in blood sugar regulation and lipid metabolism. Disease risk increases with excessive or unhealthy forms (saturated fat, trans fat, highly processed starches), contributing to metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. In nutrition and biomedical science, “dietary fats and starches” is thus not a receptor, enzyme, transporter, or other therapeutic target—but a collective label for core food-derived energy sources, with broad impacts on physiology and disease.

Other names

Dietary fatsdietary fatstarchstarchesmacronutrients (subset: fats and starches)lipidcarbohydrate (starch subtype)