Saturated vs. unsaturated confusion

[Soapartisan]

Hello all and Happy New Year.
I am confused about the SoapCalc.net Sat: Unsat ratio at the top right of the calculated Recipe.
I have this hypothetical recipe:

Avocado Oil: 10%
Canola Oil: 20%
Coconut Oil: 35%
Olive oil: 10%
Shea butter: 20%
Sweet Almond Oil: 5%
When you add up the oils, I have here 55% of hard oils (Coconut and Shea - saturated fat) and 45% liquid oils (unsaturated fat), yet when I run this recipe through Soapcalc, it shows me the following Sat : Unsat ratio 45:55 it seems that the numbers are transposed. Is it just a template mistake and that from now on, I should read this result as Unsat: 55 and Sat 45? Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

[MrsZ]

@Soapartisan I am not an expert on this, but to the best of my understanding Soapcalc calculates the total of all the fatty acids from each different fat in the recipe. The kinds of fat we think of as "saturated fats" from a cooking viewpoint such as lard, tallow, or other solid at room temperature fats, are not actually completely made up of saturated fats.

For example, if you enter 100% shea butter into Soapcalc, you'll find it's sat:unsat ratio is 45:55. You can look at the breakdown of different fatty acids in shea butter. It lists 45% combined palmitic and stearic acids (saturated fats), but also 48% oleic and 6% linoleic acid. Oleic and linoleic are both unsaturated fatty acids.

Since your recipe is made of several different oils/fats and each oil/fat is made up of several different fatty acids, the sat:unsat ratio on the calculator reflects that.

This article from @DeeAnna is super helpful if you are interested in learning more about how to use Soapcalc:

https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.asp

 

[DeeAnna]

What MrsZ said -- look at the fatty acid (FA) profile for the soap recipe (you can do this for just an individual fat too). Add up the percentages of the unsaturated fatty acids (oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and ricinoleic). Separately add up the % of saturated fatty acids (lauric, myristic, palmitic, and stearic). Calculate the ratio between these two totals.

You may find the FA percentages in the calc don't add up to 100%. Most soap recipe c@lculators only track the predominant fatty acids supplied by commonly used soap making fats. If a fat contains other FAs, the total won't add up to 100%.

In casual conversation, we speak of FATS being saturated or unsaturated. But there are no fats harvested from nature that are 100% saturated or unsaturated. Fats can be mostly saturated or mostly unsaturated, but never 100% one or the other. Every fat contains varying percentages of each type. It's more accurate to talk about FATTY ACIDS being saturated or unsaturated.

 

[Jadwiga Perez]

SoapCalc shows the unsaturated fats (55 in your case) first in the Sat Unsat ratio. It might seem counterintuitive, but that's how they display it. So your recipe looks good 45% saturated and 55% unsaturated fats.

 

[Soapartisan]

@Soapartisan I am not an expert on this, but to the best of my understanding Soapcalc calculates the total of all the fatty acids from each different fat in the recipe. The kinds of fat we think of as "saturated fats" from a cooking viewpoint such as lard, tallow, or other solid at room temperature fats, are not actually completely made up of saturated fats.

For example, if you enter 100% shea butter into Soapcalc, you'll find it's sat:unsat ratio is 45:55. You can look at the breakdown of different fatty acids in shea butter. It lists 45% combined palmitic and stearic acids (saturated fats), but also 48% oleic and 6% linoleic acid. Oleic and linoleic are both unsaturated fatty acids.

Since your recipe is made of several different oils/fats and each oil/fat is made up of several different fatty acids, the sat:unsat ratio on the calculator reflects that.

This article from @DeeAnna is super helpful if you are interested in learning more about how to use Soapcalc:

https://classicbells.com/soap/soapCalcNumbers.asp

Thank you so much! I will definitely check out the link. So far, I haven't had any problems as I never really worried about that ratio before - I soap using the percentage of water @25% and 5% superheat, always using the same oils. But I had a lot of leftover Avocado and Sweet Almond oil that I need to use before they expire so I started to look more closely at the ratio. Happy New Year!

 

[Soapartisan]

What MrsZ said -- look at the fatty acid (FA) profile for the soap recipe (you can do this for just an individual fat too). Add up the percentages of the unsaturated fatty acids (oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and ricinoleic). Separately add up the % of saturated fatty acids (lauric, myristic, palmitic, and stearic). Calculate the ratio between these two totals.

You may find the FA percentages in the calc don't add up to 100%. Most soap recipe c@lculators only track the predominant fatty acids supplied by commonly used soap making fats. If a fat contains other FAs, the total won't add up to 100%.

In casual conversation, we speak of FATS being saturated or unsaturated. But there are no fats harvested from nature that are 100% saturated or unsaturated. Fats can be mostly saturated or mostly unsaturated, but never 100% one or the other. Every fat contains varying percentages of each type. It's more accurate to talk about FATTY ACIDS being saturated or unsaturated.

Thank you so much! This I didn't know! I'm learning more every day! Happy New Year!