I mean, outside the healthcare/food aspect, that’s a college level course in chemistry. Basically, “saturated” fats are long carbon chains with those carbon atoms filled with hydrogen so there are only single bonds in the chain. “Unsaturated” are those same carbon chains but with at least two carbon atoms (adjacent to each other) not filled. Rather than those carbon atoms having one more hydrogen each, they just add a bond between them forming a double bond. This double bond is an easy point your digestive system uses to break down the fat. For unsaturated there are some different groupings. Those are mono or poly unsaturated and trans or cis. The difference between mono and poly is the number of double bonds. Mono, there is only a single double bond. Poly there are 2 or more. Cis or trans indicate where the chain continues after the double bond. Cis, it continues on the same side making it difficult for molecules to settle in a nice organized fashion. Imagine trying to stack some sticks that all have a 90 degree bend in them. Trans fats continue the chain on the opposite side. This results in a straighter more easily organized chain. Now your bundle of sticks are all straight. Much easier to stack. This stacking makes it much more difficult to break apart those chains when they are straight.
Trans is actually always unsaturated. It’s also much worse than saturated. That’s why you have to be careful just looking for unsaturated fats.
ugh. i thought I had the basics down.
I mean, outside the healthcare/food aspect, that’s a college level course in chemistry. Basically, “saturated” fats are long carbon chains with those carbon atoms filled with hydrogen so there are only single bonds in the chain. “Unsaturated” are those same carbon chains but with at least two carbon atoms (adjacent to each other) not filled. Rather than those carbon atoms having one more hydrogen each, they just add a bond between them forming a double bond. This double bond is an easy point your digestive system uses to break down the fat. For unsaturated there are some different groupings. Those are mono or poly unsaturated and trans or cis. The difference between mono and poly is the number of double bonds. Mono, there is only a single double bond. Poly there are 2 or more. Cis or trans indicate where the chain continues after the double bond. Cis, it continues on the same side making it difficult for molecules to settle in a nice organized fashion. Imagine trying to stack some sticks that all have a 90 degree bend in them. Trans fats continue the chain on the opposite side. This results in a straighter more easily organized chain. Now your bundle of sticks are all straight. Much easier to stack. This stacking makes it much more difficult to break apart those chains when they are straight.