Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

FATTY ACID TYPES AND FOOD SOURCES 269
Figure 5.13. Dietary fats contain a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated, and
polyunsaturated fatty acids. Foods are often categorized by the predominant type of fatty acids
they contain, even though foods contain all three types.
Saturated Fatty Acids
Fat sources with a high percentage of saturated fatty acids tend to be solid at room
temperature. This is because the lack of double bonds in the carbon chains of saturated
fatty acids makes them very straight, so they pack together well (like a box of toothpicks).
Fats that have mostly saturated fatty acids, like butter and coconut oil, are solid at room
temperature, as are the visible fat layers in a strip of bacon or a cut of beef. Consuming
a diet high in saturated fats is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, because
such a diet increases blood cholesterol, specifically the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol level. (More
on this later.) Food sources of predominately saturated fatty acids include most animal
fats (with the exception of poultry and eggs, which contain more unsaturated fatty acids),