The break down of free fatty acid or fatty acid degradation is the process in which fatty acids are broken down into their basic metabolites. The process of degradation includes three steps:
1. Lipolysis of fat stores of and release of free fatty acids from adipose tissue
2. Process of activation and transport into mitochondria catalyzed by the enzyme fatty acyl-CoA synthetase.
3. β-oxidation-formation of final product - acetyl-CoA which is the entry molecule for the citric acid cycle.
