Hydrogenated Oils essays

Hydrogenated Oils essays Fat is essential to life, its not to be feared anymore if the right type is consumed. There are three classifications of fat: saturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and monounsaturated fatty acids. These fats are used by the body as energy, but provide more than twice as many calories per gram as either carbohydrates or protein that have 4 grams compared to 9 grams in fat. Fat is also a carrier of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E that are vital for everyday living. The unsaturated fats, which are liquid at room temperature, provide the body with essential fatty acids that the body cannot produce so they have to be consumed. These fats also aid in lowering the bad cholesterol low-density lipids (LDLs). Although polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids are healthy they should be eaten in moderation. As for saturated fat, which is solid at room temperature, it raises the LDLs that leads to heart disease, the number one killer in America. It can also lead to cancer and obesity that is why the Recommend Dietary Intake (RDI) of saturated fat should only be 10% of the diet. Although most Americans are taught that saturated fat is the worst fat, but there is one more that has been around for several years, but has been hidden. Trans fatty acids is the name of the cultrate or as otherwise know as hydrogenated oils. Trans fatty acids are geometrical isomers of the naturally occurring cis-fatty acids and they resemble the molecular configuration of saturated fat. They are commercially produced in vast amounts by heating vegetable oils (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) with metal catalysts and hydrogen to form what is known as shortening or margarine. In nature, unsaturated fatty acids have double bonds that are cis isomers; with adjacent carbons on the same side of the double bond. This results in a bent shape and a liquid state when at room temperature. As for the trans fatty acids, the car...