Refined fats and oils ready for use as foods usually have a free fatty acid content of only a few hundredths of one percent. Lecithin and cephalin are common phosphatides found in edible fats. For all practical purposes, refining removes the phosphatides from the fat or oil. Sterols Sterols, also referred to as steroid alcohols, are a class of substances that contain the common steroid nucleus plus an 8 to 10 carbon side chain and an alcohol group. Although sterols are found in both animal fats and vegetable oils, there is a substantial difference biologically between those occurring in animal fats and those present in vegetable oils.
Cholesterol is the primary animal fat sterol and is only found in vegetable oils in trace amounts.
Sitosterol and stigmasterol are the best-known vegetable oil sterols. The type and amount of vegetable oils sterols vary with the source of the oil. Fatty Alcohols Long chain alcohols are of little importance in most edible fats. A small amount esterified with fatty acids is present in waxes found in some vegetable oils. Larger quantities are found in some marine oils.