saturated fat

fat in which the fatty acid chains have all or predominantly single bonds

~12 min read

Article

A saturated fat is a type of fat; a glyceride in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms (i.e. an alkane). Glyceride fats with single bonds are called saturated because they are "saturated with" hydrogen atoms, having no double bonds available to react with more hydrogen.

Saturated fats are generally solid at room temperature. All fats, both saturated and unsaturated, contain 9kcal per gram, making them more energy dense than both proteins and carbohydrates.