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Nutrition Medium #oxidation#stability#pufa

Oxidation Stability Spectrum

Saturated and MUFA resist oxidation. PUFA oxidizes readily. Heat and time multiply the effect.

A free, animated oxidation stability spectrum you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

Oxidation Stability Spectrum

Oxidation Stability SpectrumOxidative Stability Index (hours at 110 C, Rancimat method): higher = more heat and shelf stable

Horizontal bars showing Oxidative Stability Index (OSI, hours at 110 C by Rancimat method) for 10 major dietary fats from coconut oil (96h) down to flaxseed oil (1.5h). Bars are color-coded by fatty-acid class: saturated (var(--c-accent)), MUFA (var(--c-accent-strong)), PUFA (#7c3aed). Each bar is annotated with its OSI value and dominant fatty-acid composition. A callout box flags high-PUFA oils at frying temperatures generating 4-HNE aldehydes. Bottom legend and insight strip explain the mechanistic reason: each additional double bond doubles the oxidation rate.

Good for

  • Cooking-oil selection guides for home cooks and food bloggers
  • Articles on seed-oil oxidation and dietary fat quality
  • Nutrition content explaining why fat structure determines heat stability

Source & accuracy

This oxidation stability spectrum is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

Why double bonds set the oxidation rate

A fatty acid oxidizes at the carbons next to its carbon-carbon double bonds, where hydrogen atoms are easiest to abstract. Saturated fats have no double bonds and are the most resistant. Monounsaturated fats have one and are intermediate. Polyunsaturated fats carry two or more, and the methylene carbon sitting between two double bonds is especially vulnerable, so oxidation rate climbs sharply with the number of double bonds.

This is why a fat's degree of unsaturation, not just its category name, predicts how readily it forms lipid peroxides and off-flavor breakdown products.

Heat, time, light, and oxygen as multipliers

Oxidation is a chain reaction, so the same fat degrades faster with higher temperature, longer exposure, more dissolved oxygen, and light. High-heat repeated frying is a worst case for polyunsaturated oils because it stacks several of these factors at once.

Antioxidants such as tocopherols and storage in cool, dark, sealed containers slow the process but do not eliminate it. The takeaway from the diagram is comparative stability, not a claim that any single fat is harmful or safe in isolation; dietary fat choices involve more than oxidation alone. General educational information, not dietary advice.

Embed this diagram

Add this animated oxidation stability spectrum to your own site. Copy one line of HTML, or use the embed builder for theme and sizing options.

Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated oxidation stability spectrum for any website.
Who uses it
Cooking blogs, Nutrition blogs, Health blogs.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.

Embed format options

Copy the universal HTML snippet, the WordPress shortcode, or an iframe fallback - see the WordPress plugin page for details. Any format keeps the same Core Web Vitals profile and the same explainer text.

Embed snippet
<div data-scrollchart="oxidation-stability-fats" data-scrollchart-v="1"></div>
<script src="https://scrollchart.com/embed.js" async></script>

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "Oxidation Stability Spectrum" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "Oxidation Stability Spectrum" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
How do I embed a oxidation stability spectrum diagram in a health or wellness blog?
Copy the HTML snippet from the Scrollchart diagram page and paste it into any post or page in your CMS. It works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, and plain HTML without any plugin or account. The diagram renders as animated SVG directly in your page, so search engines can index the accompanying explainer text.