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What smaller molecules are produced when fats are digested?

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Diagram of the human digestive system viewed from the front, showing and labeling organs including the mouth, teeth, tongue, salivary glands, pharynx, esophagus, liver, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, large intestine, small intestine, appendix, rectum, and anus. — digestion The human digestive system as seen from the front.

During the process of digestion, dietary fats—which are primarily stored as triglycerides—are broken down by lipase enzymes into smaller, more manageable molecules.

Specifically, these enzymes hydrolyze triglycerides into:

Fatty acids
Glycerol
Monoglycerides (formed when two fatty acid chains are split off from the glycerol framework)12

To facilitate this process, bile salts act to reduce the surface tension of fat droplets, allowing lipases to effectively attack the triglyceride molecules. The resulting components are then absorbed by the epithelial cells lining the small intestine, where they are often resynthesized into triglycerides for transport throughout the body.12