Meaning & use
unsaturated fatty acid
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablechemistry
A fat molecule that has at least one double bond between carbon atoms in its chain, so it holds fewer hydrogen atoms.
Grammar: Often plural when speaking of food: unsaturated fatty acids.
Patterns
- an unsaturated fatty acid in something
Olive oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids.
An unsaturated fatty acid usually stays liquid at room temperature.
Doctors recommend replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fatty acids.
Word forms
| plural | unsaturated fatty acids |
|---|
Common combinations
- rich in unsaturated fatty acids
- Salmon is rich in unsaturated fatty acids.
- monounsaturated fatty acid
- Avocados contain a monounsaturated fatty acid.
- polyunsaturated fatty acid
- Walnuts contain a polyunsaturated fatty acid.
- essential unsaturated fatty acid
- The body needs each essential unsaturated fatty acid from food.
- cis unsaturated fatty acid
- Most natural oils contain a cis unsaturated fatty acid.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unsaturated fat
- Unsaturated fat is the everyday term for the fat in food, while unsaturated fatty acid names the chemical building block.
- healthy fat
- Healthy fat is a popular label for such fats, but it is not a precise scientific term.
- polyunsaturated
- Polyunsaturated describes fatty acids with more than one double bond, so it is a narrower term.
Opposites
Word family
- saturated adjective
- holding as much hydrogen as possible
- fatty adjective
- containing or like fat
- acid noun
- a chemical that can react with bases
- unsaturation noun
- the state of having double bonds
- hydrogenate verb
- to add hydrogen to a fat
Commonly confused: unsaturated fatty acid or saturated fatty acid?
unsaturated fatty acid vs saturated fatty acid
A saturated fatty acid has no double bonds and tends to be solid, such as in butter, while an unsaturated one has double bonds and tends to be liquid.
Practice
Which kind of fat molecule has one or more carbon-carbon double bonds and is usually liquid at room temperature?
Choose one answer.
An unsaturated fatty acid contains double bonds. Saturated fatty acids lack them, and amino acids and sugars are different molecules.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unsaturated fatty acid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.