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Why are trans fats dangerous?

Interest in butter substitutes was born in the 19th century, when the need arose to reduce the price of butter so that the poor and a large army could also spread something on bread.

The history of trans fats began in 1869, when a product was first obtained with a consistency resembling butter. It was prepared in the process of emulsifying low-melting beef fat, milk and rennet extract of the cow's stomach. It was the prototype for margarine. In 1897, the discovery of the catalytic hydrogenation of carbon compounds made it possible to obtain saturated stearic acid (hydrogen and vapors of unsaturated fatty acids were mixed using a catalyst).

This chemical process created the ability to convert liquid fats into solid fats and has been called the fat hydrogenation process. It was later patented. This discovery was first used to make candles and soaps. But it was extremely difficult to spread such products on bread and experiments in this area continued. Finally, an experiment was carried out with incomplete hydrogenation of vegetable oil. This is how margarines appeared.

Initially, cottonseed and soybean oils were used to make margarines. Gradually, other vegetable oils were also involved in the hydrogenation process. The resulting product outwardly resembled butter, spread well without spreading, and, according to its characteristics, could well replace expensive butter. Especially this cheapness attracted the bakery and confectionery industry. The dough, prepared with the addition of hydrogenated fats (read "margarine"), acquired a loose, airy texture, as with the addition of butter and / or pork fat. Caramel and iris kept their shape remarkably. Making "frying" also became possible with margarines.

The term "trans fats" has appeared relatively recently. It is directly related to the existence in nature of two types of fatty acids: saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids are present in the molecules of oils and fats in different combinations and proportions. Each of these types of fatty acids exists in two forms: as cis isomers and as trans isomers. These isomers determine the physical properties (more specifically, the degree of hardness and melting point) of all oils and fats. Cisisomers are most typical for the human and animal world, since almost all fatty acids in vegetable oils and a large percentage of fatty acids in animal fats are cisisomers.

Saturated fatty acids are solids. Unsaturated fatty acids are usually liquid.

The cisisomers of unsaturated fatty acids are responsible for the low melting point and liquid state at room conditions.

Trans isomers of unsaturated fatty acids have a high melting point and a solid state at room conditions.

The hydrogenation process converts the cis isomers of unsaturated fatty acids to trans isomers of unsaturated fatty acids, thus changing the physical properties of oils and fats (giving them hardness). Hence, hydrogenated (not to be confused with hydration) oils and fats are called trans fats.

But the early margarine manufacturers knew very little about the harmful chemical effects of trans fats (hydrogenated fats) on the body. The consequences began to appear much later. A century after the total industrial production of margarines, it was established what kind of irreparable harm hydrogenated fats cause.

Scientists of our time began to analyze statistics on the level of development of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus and noticed a dangerously wide spread of these diseases. This led them to think about the harmfulness of modern fats and oils used in food.

Fat itself is a set of organic molecules of a complex composition, which is extracted from oil plants (vegetable oil or vegetable fat) and from animal tissues (animal fats). Fat is necessary for a person, since the body, assimilating fats, uses them to create energy depots, as protection against thermal and mechanical damage, as a lubricant for the skin (protection against drying out) and for building the walls of the cell membrane.

Scientists have discovered that the metabolism of cis fats in the body is slower than trans fats, which leads to the displacement of the latter substances useful for metabolism. The structure of the cell membrane also changes, which leads to disturbances of a more global nature, because the cell membrane is a kind of filter for harmful compounds, which it does not allow to enter the body's cell and change intracellular processes. The cell membrane, changing its structure, slows down the rate of passage of nutrients through it. And it turns out that the cell "malnourishes", and with it does not receive the necessary substances and the whole organism. And this despite the fact that a person can eat a sufficient, in his opinion, amount of food.

The lack of a certain type of fatty acids (α-linolenic and linoleic) in the body is fraught with a wide range of diseases, since the human body does not synthesize these acids, but replenishes it from the outside.

It was also found that the qualitative composition of cell membrane lipids depends on the type of fatty acids included in them. For example, the amount of saturated acids in the cell membrane plays a role in the activity of insulin receptors (the higher this amount, the lower their activity). This means that the presence of fat reduces the absorption of carbohydrates.

From the above, we can conclude that eating foods containing trans fats can ruin health. Therefore, the consumption of hydrogenated products should be avoided.