Pharmaceuticals processing lipids into

Lipids, unlike many excipients, whether present in food or as discreet pharmaceutical additives, are processed both chemically and physically within the GIT before absorption and transport into the portal blood (or mesenteric lymph). Indeed, most of the effects mediated by formulation-based lipids or the lipid content of food are mediated by means of the products of lipid digestion—molecules that may exhibit very different physicochemical and physiological properties when compared with the initial excipient or food constituent. Therefore, although administered lipids have formulation properties in their own right, many of their effects are mediated by species that are produced after transformation or activation in the GIT. An understanding of the luminal and/or enterocyte-based processing pathways of lipids and lipid systems is therefore critical to the effective design of lipid-based delivery systems. 

The nature of the TAG molecule is such that it can often take multiple forms in a crystal lattice. That is, the same molecule can crystallize into different crystalline forms dependent on processing conditions. The phenomenon is called polymorphism. Although there are numerous molecules that exhibit polymorphism in nature (many in the pharmaceutical field), polymorphism is somewhat unique to lipids in the food industry (although some sugar alcohols also form polymorphs). 

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