Hydrogenation is a process that uses hydrogen gas to convert liquid vegetable oils into spreads / margarine. This process stabilizes oil and prevents stale oxidation. The hydrogenation reaction is sensitive to various factors that can negatively impact batch time, catalyst life, production speed, and selectivity. In addition to being the world’s leading supplier of hydrogen, Air Products can help optimize your hydrogenation reaction and reduce costs by selecting the best supply mode and evaluating and optimizing thermodynamics or reaction kinetics.
Hydrogenated fat: know what it is and its harm to health
If you eat in excess of fried foods, cookies, ice cream, chocolates, instant noodles, snacks, margarines, cookies, among others, you certainly should not know what “hydrogenated fat” is. Everyone knows that these types of foods are not healthy, however, many do not understand why the “hydrogenated fats” are the villains against a balanced diet.
These foods undergo various industrial processes, and among the many chemical additives in the composition are these types of fats, which are also well known as “trans fats”. These fats are made from a process in the industry called hydrogenation, in which the vegetable oil is bombarded by other molecules, which together with the high pressure environment, changes the structure of the oil, transforming it from liquid to a solid fat . For this reason, it is also called “hydrogenated vegetable fat”.
This type of substance does not exist in nature. However, according to some studies, the food industry adds this type of fat to its products to enhance the taste of foods, lower costs for companies and help with the shelf life of foods. Therefore, research related to this type of fat claims that the human body is not adapted to deal with hydrogenated fats. Because, being consumed, this chemical composition acts on the blood vessels, which can cause the person to have heart attacks and strokes. The ideal is to always keep an eye on the packaging or labels of products before they are purchased or consumed.
We list some problems related to the excessive consumption of “hydrogenated fat”:
– Decreased breast milk properties;
– Increase in cases of heart disease in men and women;
– Reduction of testosterone levels and reproductive capacity;
– Increase in insulin levels related to type II diabetes;
– Increased risk of breast cancer;
– Decreased speed of immune responses in the body;
– Causes disturbance in the body’s metabolism and increased cholesterol.
