Re: Comparing Fats

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/5/05 9:03:32 PM Eastern Standard Time,

TheInmanHome@... writes:

> I cant find an original source on this information. My question now

> is about the difference between #1 Saturated #2 POLY and #3 MONO.

> Could someone give me a thumbnail understanding?

____

Fatty acids are composed of long hydrocarbon tails with some other stuff at

the end of the chain, but the saturation refers to the hydrocarbon tail. A

hydrocarbon is anything composed of carbon and hydrogen.

The hydrocabon tail of a fatty acid consists of a chain of carbon atoms, with

each carbon atom having a hydrogen atom on either side of it. Picture the

carbon chain like this: C-C-C-C-C-C- etc, and each carbon has a hydrogen on top

and a hydrogen on bottom.

If all the places for hydrogen are occupied, this is a saturated fatty acid,

because it is " saturated " with hydrogen. The other scenario is for two

adjascent carbon molecules to be missing one hydrogen atom each, and to form a

double bond between each other. Like this: C-C-C=C-C-C The third and fourth

carbons are double bonded and each have one hydrogen, while the rest have two as

described above.

If one double bond is present, this is a monounsaturated fatty acid. (Mono

for short, with the terms you used above.) If more than one double bond are

present, it is a polyunsaturated fatty acid.

To sum up, saturated fatty acids have no double bonds, monounsaturated fatty

acids have one double bond, and polyunsaturated fatty acids have more than one

double bond.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of them

make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense compassion,

which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to bear the sight of

the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature. Thus they pray

ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the truth, and for

those

who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

[Guest guest]

Chris-

>To sum up, saturated fatty acids have no double bonds, monounsaturated fatty

>acids have one double bond, and polyunsaturated fatty acids have more than

>one

>double bond.

Excellent description, but it might be useful to add that saturated fats

are extremely stable, monounsaturated fats less so, and polyunsaturated

fats very unstable. The less stable a fat is, the more it's prone to

rancidity, which is harmful to the health. Also, polyunsaturated fats in

quantity suppress the metabolism and cause all sorts of other problems. We

need certain long-chain PUFAs in small quantities (some types of wild fish

being good sources) but it's definitely unwise and harmful to incorporate

PUFA-heavy vegetable oils into the diet.

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