Wondering What Fat is, What is the composition of animal & body fat?

[roony]

I'm researching fats atm, i was wondering what peoples views were, on the composition of animal & body fats?

What are they made of, do they contain stuff like neoplasmas? etc

[Hannibal]

SFA, MUFA and PUFA
ratio of SFA/MUFA is about 1:1 - the warmer the climate the more SFA (e.g. camels) ; the colder the climate - the less SFA and more MUFA and PUFA (e.g. arctic beluga whales, seals, walruses, etc.)

[William]

Fats are made of fatty acids and white or yellow or brown stuff.
That coloured stuff can be discarded, as it doesn't seem to do anything other than make some sick, especially when overheated.

[RawZi]

the warmer the climate the more SFA (e.g. camels) ;

    I wonder what camel suet is like.  I can't imagine how saturated.  I guess it makes sense.  The hump is exaggerated hide/back fat, like what the bison get in the Winter, or is it?  Might have to be super saturated so it doesn't hang from its back in the heat.  What do camels look like when they've used their hump moisture?

    I love looking at fat contents of milk too:

While slightly saltier than cow's milk, camel milk is highly nutritious. Designed after all for animals that live in some of the roughest environments, it is three times as rich in Vitamin C as cow's milk.

In Russia, Kazakhstan and India doctors often prescribe it to convalescing patients. Aside from Vitamin C, it is known to be rich in iron, unsaturated fatty acids and B vitamins.

Production humps

Tapping the market for camel milk, however, involves resolving a series of humps in production, manufacturing and marketing. One problem lies in the milk itself, which has so far not proved to be compatible with the UHT (Ultra High Temperature) treatment needed to make it long lasting.

But the main challenge stems from the fact that the producers involved are, overwhelmingly, nomads.

Another problem, according to the FAO, is the nature of the animal itself. Camels can reputedly be pretty stubborn. And unlike cows, which store all their milk in their udders, camels keep theirs further up their bodies.

The bottom line is that camel milk production is generally a low-tech business, which in turn explains why a meagre five litres a day is considered a decent yield.

"No one is suggesting intensive camel dairy farming," said Bennett. "But just with improved feed, husbandry and veterinary care daily yields could rise to 20 litres."

Fresh camel milk fetches roughly a dollar a litre on African markets. A world market worth $10 billion, says the FAO, is entirely within the realm of possibility.

Solutions

Camel constraints can be overcome. FAO says that a British-born engineering graduate, Nancy Abeiderahmanne, has been operating a successful camel dairy in Mauritania for more than 15 years.

Abeiderahmanne, whose company also processes cow and goat milk, currently has some 800 camel herders supplying her on daily basis. She collects the fresh milk from up to 80 kilometres from her base, and hauls it back to her dairy for pasteurisation in a refrigerated truck.

The herders, while still nomads, have learned it makes business sense to leave their nursing camels behind when they move up north. This ensures a measure of continuity in supplies.

Camelbert

Another major challenge is that although camel milk keeps longer than cow's, it still has a limited shelf life. One solution is to turn surplus milk into longer-lived cheese. In 1992, the FAO, which had developed the technology to make camel cheese, arranged for a French expert to go to Mauritania to show Abeiderahmanne how to use a special enzyme to give her products the right consistency.

The result was a soft cheese quickly dubbed Camelbert. In 1993, Abeiderrahmane received the Rolex business enterprise award for her breakthrough.

Camel chocolate

An easier sell would appear to be the low-fat, camel milk

[RawZi]

    I was talking with an African Muslim man yesterday.  Of course I brought up the topic of food.  He says the diet where he's from is very healthy, very low cholesterol.  He said camel milk is very dry and cannot be made into cheese and is very healthy, that they give it to sick people and none of the milk there is pasteurized.  He said people rarely get sick and are all very active, which is important as medicine is next to nil there.  

    He said they eat all their meat cooked, but the camel hump fat they always eat completely raw.  He said it doesn't have a lot of flavor, and is very dry and nice, white colored and they serve it sliced.  It's a treasured important delicacy to them, a health food.  

    He also said they have lots of greens to eat and herbs to use as tonic that simply don't exist other places, and are wonderful (but he said not as essential as camel fat).

[William]

   I was talking with an African Muslim man yesterday.  Of course I brought up the topic of food.  He says the diet where he's from is very healthy, very low cholesterol.  He said camel milk is very dry and cannot be made into cheese and is very healthy, that they give it to sick people and none of the milk there is pasteurized.  He said people rarely get sick and are all very active, which is important as medicine is next to nil there.  

    He said they eat all their meat cooked, but the camel hump fat they always eat completely raw.  He said it doesn't have a lot of flavor, and is very dry and nice, white colored and they serve it sliced.  It's a treasured important delicacy to them, a health food.  

    He also said they have lots of greens to eat and herbs to use as tonic that simply don't exist other places, and are wonderful (but he said not as essential as camel fat).

Of course he says it is healthy; he believes in the traditional cereal-based food pyramid which made their culture stagnant and their wits dull. Any fat at all would then be a treasured delicacy to those poor fellows.