Sci 241 Week 3

Understand Your Fats and Fibers

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SCI/241

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Understand Your Fats and Fibers

According to “Face the Fats” (2013), the unhealthy fats are, saturated and trans fats, tend to be more solid at room temperature (like a stick of butter). The healthy fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and they tend to be more liquid (like liquid vegetable oil). Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are found mainly in many fish, nuts, seeds and oils from plants. Some examples of foods that contain these fats include salmon, trout, herring, avocados, olives, walnuts and liquid vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, safflower, canola, olive and sunflower. Both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats may help lower your blood cholesterol level when you use them in place of saturated and trans fats, Face the Fats (2013).

Trans-fatty acids are also formed during the process of hydrogenation, making margarine, shortening, cooking oils and the foods made from them a major source of Trans-fatty acids in the American diet. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils provide about three-fourths of the Trans-fatty acids in the U.S. diet. The trans fat content of foods is printed on the package of the Nutrition Facts label. Trans-fatty acids are also formed during the process of hydrogenation Face the Fats. (2013). "Hydrogenate" means to add hydrogen. When unsaturated fatty acids are hydrogenated, some of the hydrogen atoms are added on opposite sides of the molecule to the already attached hydrogen. Cis double bonds convert to trans double bonds, and the fatty acids become saturated, Face the Fats. (2013). Unsaturated fatty acids can be in one of two shapes — "cis" and "trans." These terms refer to the physical positioning of hydrogen atoms around the carbon chain. The cis form is more common than the trans form. Trans-fatty acids (TFA) are found in small amounts in...