polyunsatured fat and monounsatured fat question...?

Question

i see these on some (not all) nutrition labels. what are they? do we need them? are they good or bad for you? what do they do in our body? first person to answer all of those questions gets best answer.

Answer 1

Poly means many, or more than one.
Mono means one
and unsaturated fats are liquid at room terperature, This is a good thing.

Whereas saturated fats are still solid at room temperature.
So when you eat saturated fats they start to line your veins & arteries ... clog up you liver, heart and other important organs.
It's best to stay away from, or limit your saturated fats.

The best unsaturated fats would be olive oil and fish oils. They actually do your body good when you include them in your diet.
For instance they raise the good cholesterol in your body, and lower the bad.
Any vegetable oil blend is usually good too. (those are the poly ones)
It's the Crisco & margarine type fats you have stay away from.
And, sadly, butter too!

Hope this straightened it out for you.

PS ... Your body NEEDS fat for good enzyme fuction ... but too much just packs on the pounds.

Answer 2

Saturated fatty acids are those that contain no double bonds such as palmitic and stearic acids.
Monounsaturated fatty acids contain one double bond, such as oleic and palmitoleic acids.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids contain two or more double bonds such as linoleic or linolenic acids.

Triglycerides are the combination of glycerol with three fatty acids. While there are no pure triglycerides (containing only one fatty acid), we have some with a preponderance of unsaturated acids such as vegetable oils and others such as beef tallow that contain many saturated fatty acids.

Certain of the polyunsaturated fatty acids are essential, i.e. the body can not make them and they must be supplied from our diet. So you see your simple question was not so simple after all.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monounsaturated_fat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyunsaturated_fat