What oils are trans fats?

Summary Partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fats. To reduce your trans fat intake, avoid all vegetable oils and margarines that list partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list — or use other cooking fats, such as butter, olive oil or coconut oil.

What is the structure of trans fats?

Trans fats are unsaturated fats with trans double bonds instead of cis bonds. The type of bond affects the shape of the fatty acid chain. A trans bond creates a straight chain, whereas a cis bond results in a chain that is bent. Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

What does it mean when fat is in a trans configuration?

Cis fats are the typical form of unsaturated fat found in nature, while trans fats are made through hydrogenation. Trans fats have a similar shape to saturated fats, so many of the physical properties are the same.

How are trans fatty acids made from vegetable oil?

See the saturated fats page for details. Trans fatty acids are made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil — in a process described as partial hydrogenation. If the hydrogenation process were allowed to go to completion, there would be no trans fatty acids left, but the resulting material would be too solid for practical use.

How are trans fatty acids different from cis fatty acids?

Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs) are unsaturated fatty acids with at least one double bond in the trans configuration instead of the cis configuration. The double bond in the trans configuration gives the molecule a straighter shape.

What kind of molecule is a trans fatty acid?

What are Trans Fatty Acids? A trans fatty acid (commonly shortened to trans fat) is an unsaturated fatty acid molecule that contains a trans double bond between carbon atoms, which makes the molecule kinked. Research suggests a correlation between diets high in trans fats and diseases like atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

How are trans fats created in the food industry?

Artificial trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. The primary dietary source for trans fats in processed food is “partially hydrogenated oils.”. Look for them on the ingredient list on food packages.