Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1999

Before youSwap Butter forMargarine Adverse Health Effects of Hydrogenated Vegetable I t is well known that too much animal fat in the diet can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic diseases. Anima l fats such as beef tallow and lard contain cholesterol and a higher level of saturated fatty acids than vegetable oils such as corn, soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oil. The latter are believed to have fewer adverse effects on health due to the absence of cholesterol and their higher unsaturated fat content . Yet vegetable oils remain in liquid form because of their lower melting point, and hence do not offer the convenience of, say, being spreadable like butter. Besides they go bad easily: food that has been cooked with vegetable oils do not keep. Food manufacturers at the turn of the century invented a process called 'hydrogenation' which converts vegetabl e oils into 'vegetable shortening' by catalyzing them with hydrogen and certain metals in the presence of heat. In the last decade food manufacturers and fast food restaurants have switched to using hydrogenated vegetable oils because they are less expensive and because food cooked w i t h them has a longer shelf life. It was also found that when partially hydrogenated, vegetable oils become margarine, which quickly replaced butter in the market due t o its lower cost and ‘healthier' image. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil is Unhealthy But while the world was believing that vegetable oils were a healthier alternative to animal fats, studies showed hydrogenated vegetable oil could be a health hazard. A l l fatty acids in nature fall primarily into three categories: saturated (having no double bond), monounsaturated (having one double bond), or polyunsaturated (having two or more double bonds). Most unsaturated fatty acids have their double bond arranged in cis-configuration, meaning the two hydrogen atoms are located on the same side of the double bond. Less common than these are trans -configurated fatt y acids such as those found in margarine. Trans-fatty acids are also unsaturated but their two hydrogen atoms cis-fatty acid trans-fatty acid Before You Swap Butter for Margarine