Inside Jerry's Brain

Dietary fats come in a variety of forms and are classified based on the presence of double bonds in the hydrocarbon chain. Saturated fats (SFAs) have no double bonds while unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) contain double bonds. UFAs are subcategorized based on the orientation, number, and position of the double bonds. Cis fats contain cis-oriented double bonds and are natural, while trans fats contain trans-oriented double bonds and are usually synthetic or processed. Fatty acids with one double bond are MUFAs, while PUFAs contain more than one double bond. Last, Unsaturated Fat / Unsaturated Fatty Acids can be further classified depending on the position of the chain-terminal double bond. For example, ω-3 PUFAs contain a double bond 3-carbons away from the terminal carbon on the fatty acid tail. PUFAs are usually regarded as safe and beneficial; but that depends on potency, concentration, and oxidizability.

Rohr et al. 2020