What is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats?

ODonnell

A. The difference between saturated and unsaturated fat in a word is -- hydrogen. All fats contain carbon, hydrogen and a little oxygen to form what are called fatty acids. Chemists classify fats according to the proportion of hydrogen in the fatty acids. If the fatty acids contain all the hydrogen possible, they are said to be saturated. If not completely full of hydrogen, fatty acids are termed unsaturated. Animal fat tends to be highly saturated with hydrogen, while vegetable fats are unsaturated to varying degrees. However, all foods contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats. For example, poultry contains 30% saturated fat and 70% unsaturated fat. Beef, pork, and lamb have about equal amounts of each. Vegetable fats, like corn oil, olive oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil, contain approximately 14% saturated and 85% unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are usually solid and unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. This is an easy way to distinguish between the two. A notable exception is soft and hard margarine. Margarine is made from vegetable fat, but through a process called hydrogenation (hydrogen is added to the fatty acids), it is turned into a saturated fat for firmness. All types of fats, of course, supply the same amount of energy (about nine calories per gram). Apr 02 00, 6:45 PM

dank_logic

Saturate fats do not have double bonds in the hydrocarbon chains whereas unsaturated ones do (and if there are several double bonds it is called polyunsaturated). Apr 08 00, 11:21 AM

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