Vegetables oils in particular are natural products of plant origin consisting of ester mixtures derived from glycerol with chains of fatty acids containing about 14-20 carbon atoms with different degrees of unsaturation.
Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil is made by reacting vegetable oil with hydrogen. When this occurs, the level of polyunsaturated oils (good fat) is reduced and trans fats are created.
Trans fats can be found in foods such as vegetable shortening, some margarines, crackers, candies, baked goods, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, salad dressings, and many processed foods.
Vegetable oils are important in human nutrition, providing energy, essential fatty acids and lipophilic vitamins. About 15% of all vegetable oils are used for the manufacture of various industrial and technical products.
Vegetable oils are associated with heart disease, breast and colon cancer, atherosclerosis and elevated cholesterol.
Vegetable oils
