Saturated fat

Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acis have no double bonds between the carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain (hence, they are fully saturated with hydrogen atoms). There are several kinds of naturally occurring saturated fatty acids, with their only difference being the number of carbon atoms - from 1 to 24. Some common examples of saturated fatty acids are butyric acid with 4 carbon atoms, (contained in butter), lauric acid with 12 carbon atoms (contained in mother's milk, coconut oil, palm oil, and cocoa butter), myristic acid with 14 carbon atoms (contained in cow milk and dairy products), palmitic acid with 16 carbon atoms (contained in meat), stearic acid with 18 carbon atoms (also contained in meat).

Related Topics:
Fat - Triglycerides - Saturated - Fatty acids - Double bond - Butyric acid - Butter - Lauric acid - Mother's milk - Coconut oil - Palm oil - Cocoa butter - Myristic acid - Milk - Palmitic acid - Meat - Stearic acid

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Fat that occurs naturally in living matter such as animals and plants and that is used as food for human consumption contains a varying proportion of saturated and unsaturated fat. Foods that contain a high proportion of saturated fat are butter, ghee, suet, tallow, lard, coconut oil, cottonseed oil and palm oil, dairy products (especially cream and cheese), meat as well as some prepared foods. Other foods such as olive oil contain a high proportion of monounsaturated fat, while others such as sunflower oil and corn oil contain mainly polyunsaturated fat.

Related Topics:
Living - Animals - Plants - Food - Consumption - Unsaturated fat - Butter - Ghee - Suet - Tallow - Lard - Coconut oil - Cottonseed oil - Palm oil - Dairy product - Cream - Cheese - Meat - Olive oil - Monounsaturated fat - Sunflower - Corn oil - Polyunsaturated fat

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Dehydrogenation converts saturated fats to unsaturated fats, while hydrogenation accomplishes the reverse.

Related Topics:
Dehydrogenation - Unsaturated fat - Hydrogenation

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