Chemistry Trans Fats

Introduction: Regular eating of fast food can have a detrimental effect on your bodily health due to the high amount of sugar, fat, sodium and empty calories that they contain. Most of the fat in the food we eat is a mixture of three main types - saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated. Fatty acids have the general formula of CnH2n+1COOH . Trans-fats is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acids, they may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated but never saturated. This type of fat that are common in fast food, are of particular concern, as no trans-fat are essential fatty acids. The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease by raising the levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of "good" HDL cholesterol. They occur naturally in small amounts in dairy foods and meat and in some processed vegetable oils. The main sources are manufactured foods which use hydrogenated vegetable fats, such as baked products (e.g. pies, pastries, cakes, biscuits), some commercially deep fried foods and hard margarines. Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans-fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans-fats from partially hydrogenated oils are more harmful than naturally occurring oil.

Chemically, trans-fat is an unsaturated fat molecule containing one or more double bonds between the carbon atoms in a trans geometic configuration. A double bond may exhibit one of two possible configurations - 'trans' and 'cis' refer to the arrangement of chains of carbon atoms across the double bond. In the cis arrangement, the chains are on the same side of the double bond, resulting in a kink or bent molecule. Whereas, in the trans arrangement, the chains are on opposite sides of the double bond, and the chain is straight.

Cis Configuration Trans Configuration