What Are Hydrogenated Fats?
There are many types of fats in foods. Some are healthy while others are harmful. Hydrogenated fats are vegetable fats that can behave in the body like animal fats. These fats are also called trans fats, which change their composition, appearance and texture. Learn more about it in this article!
What are hydrogenated fats?
Hydrogenated fats or trans fats are fats that are the result of a chemical process. Many experts are against the use of these fats. In fact, no expert recommends them, even in small percentages.
So you should avoid them as much as possible. These fats are obtained by hydrogenating vegetable oils (which convert them from unsaturated to saturated). They are therefore much more harmful than saturated fats.
How do you get these fats?
Hydrogenated fats undergo a chemical process that benefits manufacturers. This is because the cost is lower than other fats.
Trans fats, or hydrogenated fats, are the result of a chemical process that benefits manufacturers in many ways, usually because they are cheaper than other types of fats. However, trans fats are dangerous for our health.
Many different food industries add hydrogen to ingredients that contain certain fats in liquid form, such as oils. They do this when they are at a very high temperature so that they solidify.
In this way they ensure that food stays in good condition for longer and looks tastier. It is also easier to use during preparation, as it does not spoil during the process.
The health effects of hydrogenated fats
You can find trans fats or hydrogenated fats in most processed foods. Consuming just 5 grams of trans fat per day is considered hazardous to health.
So these are the most harmful fats. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid or reduce its consumption. They also increase the risk of diseases such as:
- Cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis. These fats can increase harmful cholesterol and triglyceride levels. They also lower good cholesterol levels.
- Cancer. They can cause the body to produce faulty hormones and cell membranes.
- brain diseases. These fats inhibit the action of essential fatty acids, slowing the growth and maturation of the brain.
- Metabolic diseases and diabetes.
In a report by the WHO expert committees, this organization emphasized the need to significantly reduce or eliminate trans fatty acids in industrial food production.
Consumers are not fully aware of the effects of a high intake of trans fatty acids on their health, especially cardiovascular health.
Foods That Contain Trans Fats
You can find hydrogenated fats in a wide variety of products that people consume regularly. Hydrogenated fats are cheap and have an ideal consistency to develop many different products.
In addition, they have a pleasant taste. In addition, their shelf life is also longer than that of other types of fats. Do you know which products contain these harmful fats?
- most pastries
- cookies
- Ready-made meals
- snacks
- margarine
- sweets
- fast food in general
- fried food
How do you avoid hydrogenated fats?
The first thing you should do to avoid hydrogenated fats is not to eat (ultra) processed products. It is therefore better to choose fresh products that do not contain these fats or other added products.
In addition, if you buy most of your food in a supermarket, read labels before buying processed product. It is important for you to ensure that the products in your shopping cart do not contain unhealthy ingredients.
We are not only talking about hydrogenated fats here, but also sugar or other starches. If a product label states that it contains vegetable fats, you should also look at what kind of fats these are. Avoid trans fatty acids and (partially) hydrogenated fats.
If you buy a lot of processed products or ready meals, this can seem difficult. However, it is important to change your habits to have a healthy lifestyle.
