Saturated Fat Examples

Saturated Fat Examples Saturated Fat One of the major health concerns for humans is the amount of fat content in their nutritional intake, a factor that impacts many health concerns including the leading cause of death in the US, heart disease. But what many people fail to understand is that fat-better known as lipids-are essentially for normal cellular function as long as they are kept in balance. One of the chief fats that causes health concerns is saturated fats. Saturated fats contain triglycerides that consist only of saturated fatty acids. The word "saturated" in this case means the fatty acid chains and the carbon atoms have no double bonds connecting them. This means the carbon atoms are fully saturated with hydrogen. In fact, saturated fats have a number label that tells how many carbon atoms there are in its saturated fatty acid chain. Examples of Saturated Fat: 1. Saturated Fats in Chemistry The chemical formulas for saturated fats wouldn't mean much to the average consumer, but to a researcher, these designations speak volumes about the amount of carbon and hydrogen in relation to the fatty acid chain. Some of these saturated fats include propionic acid (propanoic acid - C3:0), butyric acid (butanoic acid - C4:0), valeric acid (pentanoic acid - C5:0), caproic acid (hexanoic acid - C6:0), and pelargonic acid (nonanoic acid - C9:0), just to name a few. 2. Saturated Fats in Foods Pre-packaged foods available commercially often have a label that tells consumers how many saturated fats the product contains, but even better is the designation that a certain food has earned that allows it to make the claim that it is low in saturated fat. And while saturated fats are fine in moderation, certain foods are automatically higher in these fats than others. These high saturated fat foods include butter and hydrogenated oils, cheese, nuts, processed meats, creams like whipped cream, and more. 3. What Are the Saturated Fats in these Foods? Foods naturally contain the carbon and hydrogen-rich chains, but some foods have a higher amount. Milk and other dairy products contain butyric acid, the natural oils like palm kernel and coconut oils contain lauric acid, and animal and vegetable fat sources contain stearic acid.