Saturated Fat - Fat Profiles

Fat Profiles

While nutrition labels regularly combine them, the saturated fatty acids appear in different proportions among food groups. Lauric and myristic acids are most commonly found in "tropical" oils (e.g., palm kernel, coconut) and dairy products. The saturated fat in meat, eggs, chocolate, and nuts is primarily the triglycerides of palmitic and stearic acids.

Saturated fat profile of common foods; Esterified fatty acids as percentage of total fat

Food	Lauric acid	Myristic acid	Palmitic acid	Stearic acid
Coconut oil	47%	18%	9%	3%
Palm oil	0.1%	1%	44%	5%
Butter	3%	11%	29%	13%
Ground beef	0%	4%	26%	15%
Dark chocolate	0%	1%	34%	43%
Salmon	0%	1%	29%	3%
Eggs	0%	0.3%	27%	10%
Cashews	2%	1%	10%	7%
Soybean oil	0%	0%	11%	4%

Fat composition in different foods (click at right to hide or show)

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Food	Saturated	Monounsaturated	Polyunsaturated
	As weight percent (%) of total fat
Cooking oils
Canola oil	8	64	28
Corn oil	13	24	59
Olive oil	7	78	15
Sunflower oil	11	78	11
Soybean oil	15	24	58
Peanut oil	11	71	18
Rice bran oil	25	38	37
Coconut oil	86	13	1
Dairy products
Cheese, regular	64	29	3
Cheese, light	60	30	0
Milk, whole	62	28	4
Milk, 2%	62	30	0
Ice cream, gourmet	62	29	4
Ice cream, light	62	29	4
Meats
Beef	33	38	5
Ground sirloin	38	44	4
Pork chop	35	44	8
Ham	35	49	16
Chicken breast	29	34	21
Chicken	34	23	30
Turkey breast	30	20	30
Turkey drumstick	32	22	30
Fish, orange roughy	23	15	46
Salmon	28	33	28
Hot dog, beef	42	48	5
Hot dog, turkey	28	40	22
Burger, fast food	36	44	6
Cheeseburger, fast food	43	40	7
Breaded chicken sandwich	20	39	32
Grilled chicken sandwich	26	42	20
Sausage, Polish	37	46	11
Sausage, turkey	28	40	22
Pizza, sausage	41	32	20
Pizza, cheese	60	28	5
Nuts
Almonds dry roasted	9	65	21
Cashews dry roasted	20	59	17
Macadamia dry roasted	15	79	2
Peanut dry roasted	14	50	31
Pecans dry roasted	8	62	25
Flaxseeds, ground	8	23	65
Sesame seeds	14	38	44
Soybeans	14	22	57
Sunflower seeds	11	19	66
Walnuts dry roasted	9	23	63
Sweets and baked goods
Candy, chocolate bar	59	33	3
Candy, fruit chews	14	44	38
Cookie, oatmeal raisin	22	47	27
Cookie, chocolate chip	35	42	18
Cake, yellow	60	25	10
Pastry, Danish	50	31	14
Fats added during cooking or at the table
Butter, stick	63	29	3
Butter, whipped	62	29	4
Margarine, stick	18	39	39
Margarine, tub	16	33	49
Margarine, light tub	19	46	33
Lard	39	45	11
Shortening	25	45	26
Chicken fat	30	45	21
Beef fat	41	43	3
Dressing, blue cheese	16	54	25
Dressing, light Italian	14	24	58
Other
Egg yolk fat	36	44	16
Unless else specified in boxes, then reference is: