What inherited metabolic disorders affect lipids or fats?

Lipids, or fats, supply the body with the energy it needs to function properly. Enzymes in the body help to break down these compounds in the food we eat so that the body can use them in the ways that it needs. In some cases, a genetic defect causes these enzymes to be missing or to function improperly. When this happens, substances that should be broken down build up, or the body fails to make a substance that it needs to, and a metabolic disorder develops. Inherited metabolic disorders that affect fats include Gaucher's disease, Niemann-Pick disease, Tay-Sachs, MCAD deficiency, and Fabry's disease.