What is saturated fat ?
Saturated fat is a fat that contains a high content of saturated fatty acids.
There is also unsaturated fat, it contains a high content of unsaturated fatty acids. A fat is a triglyceride, either it consists of a molecule of glycerol and three fatty acid molecules.
In practice, each containing fat is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats, one more saturated fat, and the other more unsaturated fats. For practical reasons, it is almost never looked at the saturation of the fat, but at the relationship between the occurrence of the different fatty acids.
Health
In nutrition is the type of fat is important for health. Saturated fats raise cholesterol levels (the "bad" but also the "good"). Single- and help polyunsaturated fats according to the nutrition center to keep cholesterol levels low, there has never been shown that cholesterol itself causes heart disease. Saturated fat ensures that from linoleic acid (from linseed or chia) more EPA and DHA fatty acids may be made. The fact that there is to be done on the day of so much research today to imply saturated fat without success is significant.
The insights regarding the harmfulness of saturated fat are shifting. Would saturated fats, in contrast to what was previously thought, does not contribute to an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fats also help to maintain healthy lungs and kidneys.
Nutrition declaration
On food packaging printed a nutrition declaration. Herein is the fat content and often also to be found, the content of saturated fat back.
Prevent
Saturated fats are naturally occurring mainly in animal fat tissue or milk and, in certain types of vegetable oil, such as palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. In addition, it is possible to cure unsaturated fatty acids (liquid oils) artificially by means of hydrogenation. Here, the unsaturated fatty acids (partially or completely) can be converted into saturated fatty acids. When this happens incomplete, occurs trans fat. This artificially created trans fat is been established that it has an adverse effect on health. It gives, among other chronically elevated insulin levels which implies an increased risk of diabetes.