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Concept
Unsaturated fat
Summary
An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is at least one double bond within the fatty acid chain. A fatty acid chain is monounsaturated if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond.
A saturated fat has no carbon to carbon double bonds, so the maximum possible number of hydrogens bonded to the carbons, and is "saturated" with hydrogen atoms. To form carbon to carbon double bonds, hydrogen atoms are removed from the carbon chain. In cellular metabolism, unsaturated fat molecules contain less energy (i.e., fewer calories) than an equivalent amount of saturated fat. The greater the degree of unsaturation in a fatty acid (i.e., the more double bonds in the fatty acid) the more vulnerable it is to lipid peroxidation (rancidity). Antioxidants can protect unsaturated fat from lipid peroxidation.
Double bonds may be in either a cis or a trans isomer, depending on the geometry of the double bond. In the cis isomer, hydrogen atoms are on the same side of the double bond; whereas in the trans isomer, they are on opposite sides of the double bond (see trans fat). Saturated fats are useful in processed foods because saturated fats are less vulnerable to rancidity and usually more solid at room temperature than unsaturated fats. Unsaturated chains have a lower melting point, hence these molecules increase the fluidity of cell membranes.
Although both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can replace saturated fat in the diet, trans unsaturated fats should not. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats helps lower levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in the blood. Trans unsaturated fats are an exception because the double bond stereochemistry predisposes the carbon chains to assume a linear conformation, which conforms to rigid packing as in plaque formation. The geometry of the cis double bond induces a bend in the molecule, thereby precluding rigid formations (see links above for drawings that illustrate this).
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