hyd veg oil

Question
Todd
  I recently bought some peanut butter with fully "hydroginated vegetable oil."
  I know that partially hyd. veg. oil is very unhealthy,
but what about fully hyd.?
                                 thanks
                                   Bob

Answer
Bob,

Partially hydrogenating an oil makes the liquid oil more solid, but still soft and spreadable.  Partially-hydrogenating an oil also produces "trans-fats" and these fats are bad for us (increase our bad cholesterol levels and decrease good cholesterol).

Fully hydrogenating an oil makes it more solid, and un-spreadable, but does not produce trans-fats.  If you mix a fully-hydrogenated oil with a liquid oil, you would have a spreadable product with no trans-fats.  According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, "Surprisingly, fully hydrogenated oils appear to be innocuous. In the case of fully hydrogenated soybean oil, the hydrogenation process increases the amount of saturated fat, but most of that fat is stearic acid. Stearic acid does not raise 揵ad?(LDL) cholesterol levels, because the body converts it quickly to monounsaturated oleic acid (the characteristic fatty acid in olive oil)." [http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/trans_q_a.pdf]

The jury may still be out about the specific oil used in your peanut butter (possibly rapeseed oil and/or soybean oil).  For now, you can probably enjoy your peanut butter without any worry.

Todd

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