Unsaturated fat

An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is one or more double bonds between carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. Such fat molecules are monounsaturated if each contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if each contain more than one. In living organisms, such bonds, which are sometimes referred to as unsaturated bonds, may be either cis or trans. Cis isomers are the most common in unprocessed food stuffs.

Related Topics:
Fat - Fatty acid - Double bond - Carbon - Polyunsaturated - Organism - Cis - Trans - Isomer

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Hydrogenation converts unsaturated fats to saturated fats, while dehydrogenation accomplishes the reverse. Unsaturated fats tend to melt at lower temperatures than saturated fats, which tend to be solid at room temperature.

Related Topics:
Hydrogenation - Saturated fat - Dehydrogenation - Temperature - Room temperature

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Both kinds of unsaturated fat can replace saturated fat in the diet. Substituting saturated fats with unsaturated fats helps to lower levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in the blood. A good way to remember is that unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. This is because the electrons that would have bound to hydrogen in saturated fat go to form a double bond with the neighboring carbon atom. The double bond is like a kink in a straw. A bunch of kinked straws doesn't fit together very well and so don't coalesce into a solid, like a bunch of straight straws would.

Related Topics:
Cholesterol - LDL cholesterol

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See also: Trans fat

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