Because fats do not mix with water, they’re digested and absorbed into your bloodstream differently than carbs and proteins. At least that’s true for most of the fats in your diet -- but not all of them. One group of fats -- medium-chain triglycerides -- is an exception. They’re digested more like carbs than fats, so they take a direct path to the bloodstream.

Absorption of Fats

As muscles in your stomach churn food, fats begin to break down, but digestion of triglycerides and cholesterol doesn’t begin in earnest until they leave your stomach and enter your small intestine. The liver releases bile into the small intestine while the pancreas contributes digestive enzymes. The bile forms a coating over fats, and enzymes cleave them into smaller bile-covered pieces called micelles. Then cells in the lining of your small intestine absorb the tiny micelles.

Entry Into Bloodstream

Once inside the intestinal cells, micelles go through another repackaging. They’re now covered in a mixture of lipids and proteins. This new coating allows fats to travel through water-based environments in your body. But they still don’t go straight to your bloodstream. These fats, which are now called lipoproteins, are transported into the nearest lymph vessel. While the lymph system is better known for filtering body fluids to remove bacteria and other damaging substances, it also carries fats up to a large vein in your neck, where they finally enter your bloodstream.

Fate of Circulating Fats

Once they’re in your bloodstream, lipoproteins have different jobs. One type of lipoprotein carries fatty acids to tissues that need them for energy, such as muscles. High-density lipoproteins, or HDLs, take cholesterol back to the liver where it’s removed from your system. For this reason, HDLs are commonly known as "good" cholesterol. Low-density lipoproteins, or LDLs, remain in your bloodstream, delivering cholesterol to cells, where it fills important jobs. When you have too many LDLs circulating in your blood, the cholesterol they carry may end up sticking to artery walls. That makes LDLs the "bad" cholesterol.

Medium-Chain Triglycerides