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Transfat and Saturated Fat. Are they the same?

18 replies

QuintessentialShadows · 13/09/2009 18:10

And how bad is it?

I pour a spoon of custard over fruitsalad, it contains 8,5 g fat per 100 g, but it does not say how big proportion is saturated.

DH is going bonkers over transfat saying I am poisoning the kids with transfat custard.

OP posts:
TheArmadillo · 13/09/2009 18:12

don't know but I think your dh is crazy

brimfull · 13/09/2009 18:13

transfat is manufactured fat somehow which makes it worse that sat fat

brimfull · 13/09/2009 18:14

I mean it is changed somehow in the maufacturing

VulpusinaWilfsuit · 13/09/2009 18:14

I assumed saturated fat was fat derived from animals (as opposed to unsaturated vegetable fat) whereas transfats refer to processed fats such as hydrogenated fats which are REALLY bad for you.

dittany · 13/09/2009 18:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

QuintessentialShadows · 13/09/2009 18:22

full fat milk, cream, sugar, emulsifier, stabiliser, aroma and colour. 100 g custard gives 149 kcal and 2.7 gram protein, 15 k carbohydrate and 8,5 grams of fat.

It does not say what fat.

OP posts:
dittany · 13/09/2009 18:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

QuintessentialShadows · 13/09/2009 18:28

That is what I thought too. I just needed to get some more opinions and facts in from people more in the know than me...

OP posts:
QuintessentialShadows · 13/09/2009 18:35

But this is what wikipedia says: Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acid(s). Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated but never saturated.

Trans fat UNSATURATED FAT?

Look at this article from teh american heart foundation here

I think it explains it very well.

BUT, does this mean that transfat is something that happens to certain oils and butter during cooking? Such as deep frying stuff with for example palm oil?

OP posts:
Golda · 13/09/2009 18:40

Trans fats are unsaturated

Trans describes which isomer of a molecule it is. The alternative is cis.

Trans isomers have groups arranged on opposite sides of a double bond. Cis isomers are on the same side.

This makes trans molecules bulkier therefore its more difficult for them to move past each other so the same fat could be liquid at body temp in cis form but solid in trans form.

Trans

R


C=C


R

Cis

R R
\ /
C=C

Golda · 13/09/2009 18:41

Mumsnet took the spaces out of my beautiful diagram

Golda · 13/09/2009 18:41

Mumsnet took the spaces out of my beautiful diagram

Golda · 13/09/2009 18:42

Now its making me repeat myself

QuintessentialShadows · 13/09/2009 18:45

Umm. thanks.

Swooooosh!

So. IS icecream clogging up my childrens veins?

He claims even fruit lollies are.....

OP posts:
Golda · 13/09/2009 19:04

Eating trans fat is worse for you than eating sat fat. If it contains hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat and doesn't say trans fat free then it probably contains trans fat.

notcitrus · 13/09/2009 19:24

Fats are long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen on each arm. C atoms have 4 arms so can either have another C on each side and H top and bottom, which is 'saturated' as all their arms are full. Or they can have only 1 hydrogen and hold onto a neighbouring C with a spare arm to make a double bond (unsaturated).

To generalise a lot, light oils are short chains with lots of unsaturated bits; solid waxy fats are long chains and totally saturated. Unsaturated is 'better' for you in as far as it's not associated with clogged arteries.

Saturated fats can be natural like fat on meat or in butter or cream, or unsaturated fats can be made more but not totally saturated by adding hydrogen to the spare carbon arms ('hydrogenated fats' like margarine). Some research shows that doing this creates different shape molecules than natural saturated fat (trans not cis, see above) and these are associated with more blocked arteries etc.

Thing is it's hard to tell if they're really that bad as trans fats are really cheap (coconut palm oil) and used in food that's not great in so many other ways (pastry, crumb coating, etc) and often bought by people who don't have much money so risk health problems anyway. Last I heard they were thinking of banning hydrogenated fat so presumably it is actually bad.

Note that unspecified 'vegetable oil' is almost always palm oil which is a lot more saturated than most veg oil, and often from palm plantations created by cutting down rainforest.

Conclusion: children need some fat, dairy fat not too bad in moderation, enjoy your icecream.

QuintessentialShadows · 13/09/2009 19:48

notcitrus. Thank you, that is actually an explanation I can understand.

Why do they hydrogenate unsaturated fats? Does it happen through cooking, or is is something they engineer so as to make the fat more saturated?

OP posts:
pooexplosions · 14/09/2009 11:08

It affects the stability of the fat, making things last longer, and it also makes things cheaper.

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