Hydrogenated fats

Thriftylady · 18 October 2006 at 9:41AM

Having become more aware recently of the evils of the above, I am now reading the labels on everything and am horrified by what I'm finding.

But, could those of you who know more about these things give me a wee bit of help? Are there other names that hydrogenated fats could be known by? e.g. on a Kingsmill malted loaf the other day I saw 'vegetable oil' and 'vegetable fat' listed, and I was wondering if by definition a vegetable fat is a hydrogenated fat?

Pink. · 18 October 2006 at 10:05AM

Hi thriftylady,

You may have already seen them, but these older threads might interest you:

Trans fat deadly ( known as hydrogenated fats )

Everyday products with Trans Fats - list them here.

Pink

thriftlady_2 · 18 October 2006 at 1:41PM

I'm pretty sure that hydrogenated veg oil/fat has to be labelled as such. So, if it says veg oil or veg fat you can safely assume it is not hydrogenated

Icemaiden · 18 October 2006 at 5:48PM

In Asdas free October magazine they have stated that " As part of its food pledge, Asda is removing all hydrogenated fats from its own brand foods "
Will be watching this with interest to see how long it takes them to acheive this.

tawnyowls · 18 October 2006 at 7:33PM

Hydrogenated fats are solid or semi-solid at room temperature, thus if the ingredients say 'oil', it won't be (fully) hydrogenated - there are oils that are partly hydrogenated, but they'll still be lower in trans fats. A vegetable fat will almost certainly be hydrogenated, as it's the hydrogenation that turns it from a liquid oil to a solid fat.

DrBenway · 18 October 2006 at 11:15PM

Icemaiden wrote:

In Asdas free October magazine they have stated that " As part of its food pledge, Asda is removing all hydrogenated fats from its own brand foods "
Will be watching this with interest to see how long it takes them to acheive this.

I think sainsburys have already cut it out in the "taste the difference" range and plan on phasing it out of the rest of their own brands through 2006/7.

Quasar · 18 October 2006 at 11:33PM

These fats are a true menace in our food. They are NOT natural in the sense that they have been altered from what nature intended. An atom of hydrogen is added to their molecular chains so that they "gel" and become solid, ie. easier to handle generally.