Fats You Need to Know
Fats are chains of carbon and hydrogen molecules.
Each carbon molecule has four links available to attach to other things.
Usually, those things are hydrogen molecules.
In a fat, the carbon molecules form chains.
When the structure of a chain is simple, it's called a saturated fat.
All the available carbon bonds are taken up with hydrogen molecules.
Saturated fat molecules are solid at room temperature.
Sometimes, a carbon molecule doesn't share with a hydrogen molecule.
It shares a double bond with its neighbor.
When the structure of a fat has a single double bond, it's called monounsaturated.
'Mono' is the root word for 'one.
' 'Unsaturated' means the molecule isn't quite full, so 'monounsaturated' means a fat isn't full by one hydrogen molecule.
Monounsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature, but will solidify when put into the refrigerator.
Sometimes, there is more than one double bond in a fat molecule.
When the structure of a fat has more than one double bond, it's called polyunsaturated.
'Poly' is the root word for 'more than one,' so 'polyunsaturated' means a fat isn't full by more than one hydrogen molecule.
Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, and remain liquid when put into the refrigerator.
Trans fats are made through a process called hydrogenation.
The theory of hydrogenation is adding hydrogen molecules to an unsaturated fat in order to make it saturated.
That's not the actual result, however.
Instead of adding a hydrogen molecule, the process of hydrogenation moves a hydrogen from one side of the molecule to the other where the bend would normally be.
This straightens out the molecule, allowing it to stack nicely with itself, thus imitating the properties of saturated fat (they called it margarine and vegetable shortening).
Trans fats were originally produced because they were a cheaper alternative to natural saturated fats (butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, etc).
An added bonus was a longer shelf life of foods.
When saturated fat fell out of public favor, trans-fats were touted as being more healthy because they were made with polyunsaturated fats.
It turned out, however, that because trans-fats aren't natural, the human body never developed a mechanism to either properly utilize them, or break them down so they become harmless.
As a result, trans-fats contribute to numerous health issues including atherosclerosis, asthma, reduced immune function, infertility, cancer, diabetes, and weight gain.
Precise biological mechanisms still are not fully understood.
All products with "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" in the list of ingredients contain trans fats.
The FDA allows any product with less than half a gram of trans fat per serving to be labeled "trans fat free" on the nutritional information panel, thus resulting in some products reducing their serving size so that they can be labeled trans fat free.
A trans fat free label does not guarantee the product is actually free of trans fat.
Each carbon molecule has four links available to attach to other things.
Usually, those things are hydrogen molecules.
In a fat, the carbon molecules form chains.
When the structure of a chain is simple, it's called a saturated fat.
All the available carbon bonds are taken up with hydrogen molecules.
Saturated fat molecules are solid at room temperature.
Sometimes, a carbon molecule doesn't share with a hydrogen molecule.
It shares a double bond with its neighbor.
When the structure of a fat has a single double bond, it's called monounsaturated.
'Mono' is the root word for 'one.
' 'Unsaturated' means the molecule isn't quite full, so 'monounsaturated' means a fat isn't full by one hydrogen molecule.
Monounsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature, but will solidify when put into the refrigerator.
Sometimes, there is more than one double bond in a fat molecule.
When the structure of a fat has more than one double bond, it's called polyunsaturated.
'Poly' is the root word for 'more than one,' so 'polyunsaturated' means a fat isn't full by more than one hydrogen molecule.
Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, and remain liquid when put into the refrigerator.
Trans fats are made through a process called hydrogenation.
The theory of hydrogenation is adding hydrogen molecules to an unsaturated fat in order to make it saturated.
That's not the actual result, however.
Instead of adding a hydrogen molecule, the process of hydrogenation moves a hydrogen from one side of the molecule to the other where the bend would normally be.
This straightens out the molecule, allowing it to stack nicely with itself, thus imitating the properties of saturated fat (they called it margarine and vegetable shortening).
Trans fats were originally produced because they were a cheaper alternative to natural saturated fats (butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, etc).
An added bonus was a longer shelf life of foods.
When saturated fat fell out of public favor, trans-fats were touted as being more healthy because they were made with polyunsaturated fats.
It turned out, however, that because trans-fats aren't natural, the human body never developed a mechanism to either properly utilize them, or break them down so they become harmless.
As a result, trans-fats contribute to numerous health issues including atherosclerosis, asthma, reduced immune function, infertility, cancer, diabetes, and weight gain.
Precise biological mechanisms still are not fully understood.
All products with "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" in the list of ingredients contain trans fats.
The FDA allows any product with less than half a gram of trans fat per serving to be labeled "trans fat free" on the nutritional information panel, thus resulting in some products reducing their serving size so that they can be labeled trans fat free.
A trans fat free label does not guarantee the product is actually free of trans fat.
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