Monounsaturated fat
any fatty acid having only one double or triple bond within the carbon chain
In biochemistry and nutrition, a monounsaturated fat is a fat which contains a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), a subclass of fatty acid characterized by having a double bond in the fatty acid chain with all of the remaining carbon atoms being single-bonded. By contrast, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have more than one double bond.
Molecular description
Monounsaturated fats are generally available as triglycerides containing one unsaturated fatty acid. Almost invariably that fatty acid is oleic acid (18:1 n−9). Palmitoleic acid (16:1 n−7) and cis-vaccenic acid (18:1 n−7) occur in small amounts in fats.
Health
Studies have shown that substituting dietary monounsaturated fat for saturated fat is associated with increased daily physical activity and resting energy expenditure. More physical activity was associated with a higher-oleic acid diet than one of a palmitic acid diet. From the study, it is shown that more monounsaturated fats lead to less anger and irritability.
Foods containing monounsaturated fats may affect low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Levels of oleic acid along with other monounsaturated fatty acids in red blood cell membranes were positively associated with breast cancer risk.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Monounsaturated fat” as any fatty acid having only one double or triple bond within the carbon chain. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q61738980. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Monounsaturated fat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.