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“Oils and fats” come in many different shapes and sizes, with various physical properties. The first distinction can be made by the term “oil” or “fat”, where in general everything that is liquid at room temperature is deemed as an “oil” while everything that is solid at room temperature is called a “fat”. Building blocks of oils and fats are fatty acids, which consist of a chain of carbon atoms with a carboxyl group (-COOH) at the end. The amount of carbon atoms (chain length) can vary greatly, which determines the physical characteristics of the fatty acid. Furthermore, a fatty acid chain can be saturated (C18:0), mono-unsaturated (C18:1) or poly-unsaturated (C18:2, C18:3), whereby a distinction is made on the number of double bounds (C=C) in the fatty acid chain. The amount of double bounds also greatly impacts the physical characteristics of the fatty acid chain and the digestibility.

Generally the term oil or fat refers to the triglyceride form of these fatty acids, which means that three fatty acids are bound together to a glycerol molecule. A more broad term that is widely used is “lipids”, which next to triglycerides also includes forms such as mono- and di-glycerides, sterols, phospholipids (lecithins) and waxes, among others.