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THE SOLID FACTS ABOUT TRANS FATS ARTICLE SUMMARY

Suleman Malik
Mrs. Tschirhart
SCH4U
Friday, May 15th, 2015
The Solid Facts about Trans Fats
As of 2006, U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires food manufacturers to present the
amount of trans fats in their products on their nutritional labels. More companies recently have started
advertising products with zero grams of trans fats as they are not the healthy alternative they were once
presumed (Kimbrough, 2007, pg. 14).
Fats and oils are produced by plants and animals as a way to store energy and share similar
qualities other than the fact the oils are used to describe liquids are rom temperature while fats are used to
describe solids. Some of these similarities include having similar structure as they both contain a threecarbon glycerol backbone with long-chain fatty acids. These fats and oils are call triglycerides as tri
means three and glyceride means glycerol backbone (Kimbrough, 2007, pg. 14). Mammals generally
produce saturated fats. These fats are called saturated fats because the long carbon chains are all single
bonded meaning they are bonded to the maximum number of hydrogen and therefore saturated with
hydrogen atoms. When a double bond occurs, the double bond use up two of the four bonds meaning each
of the carbon can only be bonded to one hydrogen atom instead of the usual two (Kimbrough, 2007, pg.
15). If each chain has one double bond, it is called monosaturated and polysaturated if each chain has
more than one double bond. The three-dimensional geometry of saturated fats are long and straight which
allows the saturated fats to stack up. Fats are solid because they are nonpolar hydrocarbons which rely on
intermolecular forces to stick to each other. As saturated fats have long stackable carbon chains, the
molecules are attracted to one another resulting in a stronger force between them and a higher melting
point. Too much of these saturated fats can have a toll on your physical health as you are more likely to
have problems such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and some types of cancer (Kimbrough,

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THE SOLID FACTS ABOUT TRANS FATS ARTICLE SUMMARY
2007, pg. 15). Unsaturated fats on the other hand are usually produced by fish and plants. Most natural
unsaturated fats contain cis double bonds meaning on this side in Latin. The opposite of a cis double
bond is the trans double bond meaning across in Latin. In a trans double bond, the hydrogen atoms are
on opposite sides meaning the chains are on opposite sides. Cis double bonds are unique as they create
kinks in the three-dimensional structure of the fat resulting in an awkward stacking of fat molecules and a
lower attractive molecular structure. Because of lower attractive molecular surface, the oils are liquid at
room temperature (Kimbrough, 2007, pg. 15). In addition, cis double bonds are more likely to react with
oxygen in the air than both trans double bonds and saturated fats as cis fats are less stable and more
reactive. Because of this, oxidation of fats breaks the long chains into shorter chains with sticky and
unpleasant tasting products. In 1911, partial hydrogenation was first marketed by Cisco which consisted
of predominantly of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Partial hydrogenation was
also used to convert corn oils into margarine for a low cost alternative to butter (Kimbrough, 2007, pg.
16). Hydrogenation is the process in which a cis fat is heated at high pressures in the presence of a
catalyst where hydrogen is added across the double bond. This results in a hydrogen being bonded to each
of the double bonded carbons and the double bond becoming a single bond (Kimbrough, 2007, pg. 16).
When all double bonds become hydrogenated, the fat becomes saturated but if only some of the double
bonds are hydrogenated, the fat is referred to as partially saturated. Furthermore, the double bonds that
left unsaturated in a partial hydrogenation become trans rather than cis which is where the name trans fat
comes from (Kimbrough, 2007, pg. 16).
Not until recently have partially hydrogenated fats considered unhealthy as products such as
margarine were promoted as a healthy alternative to butter and provided to patients with heart disease or
high cholesterol. Although saturated fats and trans fats are similar, trans fats behave differently as they are
transported and metabolised (Kimbrough, 2007, pg. 16).
References:

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THE SOLID FACTS ABOUT TRANS FATS ARTICLE SUMMARY
Doris R. Kimbrough (2007, December). The Solid facts about Trans Fats. Chem-Matters, pg. 1416