Digested lipids are absorbed from the lacteals as triglycerides.
Digested lipids are absorbed from the lacteals as triglycerides or neutral fats. In the stomach, gastric lipase digests the fats into monoglycerides and fatty acids. In the small intestine, intestinal and pancreatic lipase digests the fats first into diglycerides and then into monoglycerides, releasing a fatty acid at each step. Therefore, the lipase converts fats into monoglycerides and fatty acids.
Free fatty acids, monoglycerides, and lysolecithin pass the membrane of microvilli to enter the intestinal epithelial cells. In the epithelial cells, these molecules are used to synthesize triglycerides and phospholipids. Then triglycerides, phospholipids, cholesterol are mixed with protein to form small fat molecules called chylomicrons. Thereafter, these chylomicrons are released from the intestinal cells into the lacteals (the lymphatic capillaries) of the intestinal villi.
