HUMAN NUTRITION

Detailed explanation-1: -If there are only single bonds between neighboring carbons in the hydrocarbon chain, a fatty acid is said to be saturated. (The thing that fatty acids are saturated with is hydrogen; in a saturated fat, as many hydrogen atoms as possible are attached to the carbon skeleton.)

Detailed explanation-2: -A saturated fatty acid has the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms attached to every carbon atom. It is therefore said to be “saturated” with hydrogen atoms, and all of the carbons are attached to each other with single bonds.

Detailed explanation-3: -Thus, saturated fatty acids contain no carbon-to-carbon double bonds, monounsaturated fatty acids contain one carbon-to-carbon double bond, and polyunsaturated fatty acids contain two or more carbon-to-carbon double bonds.

Detailed explanation-4: -The term saturated indicates that the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms are bonded to each carbon in the molecule. Many saturated fatty acids have a trivial or common name as well as a chemically descriptive systematic name.