Thermal Properties of Dietary Lipids Investigated Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Dietary lipids can change their physical state as a function of temperature. Particularly, dietary fats containing saturated fatty acids exhibit crystallization properties. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is the technique the most frequently used to determine the thermal properties of dietary fats, i.e., their crystallization and melting properties as a function of temperature, and to determine the characteristic temperatures and enthalpies. This chapter presents the DSC technique applied to dietary fats.