PATHWAY OF ABSORBED FATS

Food passes down the digestive tract into the stomach and then on into the small intestine. 

Nutrients pass through the intestinal wall and into the capillaries of the hepatic portal vein to be carried to the liver.

But the fats follow a different path through the lymph vessels or lacteals. These fats pass into the major lymph vessels of the heart called the vena cava.

Food passes through the heart to the liver down the abdominal artery. But on the way, fat is deposited in the lymph vessels, vena cava, heart, coronary artery and capillaries of the heart.

Examine the animal hearts on sale in the supermarkets. There is a layer of fat in the upper heart. Fats in the heart can cause strokes and heart attacks.