1 - Trans Fats: Health, Chemistry, Functionality, and Potential Replacement Solutions

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of trans fats, including their health effects, chemistry, sources, properties, and functionality. It also provides an in-depth analysis of fats and oils and their functionality in foods, discusses the relationship between structure, properties, and functionality of Triacylglycerols (TAG) and its constituent fatty acids and addresses how this knowledge can provide an insight into finding ideal trans fat replacement solutions. The holy grail of trans fats replacement solutions is to find an ideal trans fat replacement with an equal or better performance without an increase in saturated fat. The chapter also provides background for such solutions and suggests practical solutions of how to create trans fat replacement solutions, including the ideal designer fats with low saturates as a trans replacement solution. Trans fats, similar to saturated fats, offer desirable food functionality without being labeled as saturated fat. Therefore, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (PHVOs) replaced saturated fats in food products. But numerous studies have showed a direct correlation between Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) risk and the consumption of trans fats. These studies have made it very clear that trans fats are responsible for higher CHD incidence and do not provide any nutritional value. There are a number of enabling technologies, such as formulation, trait- enhanced oils, tropical oils and their fractions, and interesterified fats, that are available to eliminate trans fats in food products. The substitution of saturated fat for trans fat is an easy but not healthful solution.