# hydrogenated vegetable oil **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133 "2003-10-07T19:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/1 "2003-10-07T19:09:00Z")
Is it allowed in foods in USA? Here in UK it is allowed and I think it should be banned. It’s full of trans fatty acids which clog up your arteries. Anyway, all the supermarkets here are saying “oh but there isnt any alternatives”. This cant be right surely? It sounds to me like they like it because it’s cheap and they can make more profit. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/2 "2003-10-07T19:51:44Z")
AFAIK, it’s done to make oils solid (stick margarine, for example) and to give them a longer shelf life. They’re in all kinds of products here in the USA. Lately I’ve noticed some new products advertised as not containing any trans-fats or hydrogenated oils. Hopefully consumer pressure will cause this to happen with more products. I doubt that they will be banned in the US anytime soon but I can’t say about the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/3 "2003-10-07T21:41:14Z")
Totally hydrogenated vegetable oil can’t contain _trans_ fatty acids because it’s _saturated_. Only unsaturated oils can contain _trans_ acids. When oil is partially hydrogenated (as when making soft margarine), a small amount of _trans_ acid is formed. The typical American diet, though loaded with saturated fat (40% of total calories), derives only 2-4% of total calories from _trans_ acids. While this is more than ideal, it would be better to reduce total fat intake than to ban a perfectly useful solid fat that doesn’t contain cholesterol. _Trans_ acids raise blood cholesterol and LDL less than saturated fat does, so margarine is still better for you than butter. It’s just not as good as olive oil – and not even olive oil is good for you in large quantities. While it appears to be more healthy to get one’s fat calories from polyunsaturated oils, especially omega-6 and omega-3 oils, the current scare over _trans_ fats is (IMHO) more the result of people’s desperation to find some form of fat that can be healthily eaten in unlimited quantities. There isn’t one. _Trans_ acids raise blood cholesterol and LDL less than saturated fat does, so margarine is still better for you than butter. It’s just not as good as olive oil – and not even olive oil is good for you in large quantities. [The Report of the Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases(PDF file)](http://www.who.int/hpr/NPH/docs/who_fao_expert_report.pdf) [[http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6638/trans\_prdox.html](http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6638/trans_prdox.html)]_Trans_ Fatty Acids: A Health Paradox? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/4 "2003-10-08T00:08:14Z")
The alternative is saturated fat such as beef tallow, which is arugably healther then transfats and hydrogenated fats. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/5 "2003-10-08T19:05:48Z")
> [@](#): > > the current scare over trans fats is (IMHO) more the result of people’s desperation to find some form of fat that can be healthily eaten in unlimited quantities. Yes, **Nametag** we wouldn’t have to pick all these nits about what is and isn’t good for you if people could accept the fact that you can eat too much food. My own mother would rather think that I, he flesh and blood beloved child, has an eating disorder than recognize that her 6,000 calorie a day diet might explain why she’s the size she is. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/6 "2003-10-08T19:07:23Z")
Can’t - can’t eat too much food. Anyway, the important thing is, you can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor! ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/7 "2003-10-08T20:09:50Z")
Anyone got a cite on how hydrogenation is performed merely to obtain a last few percent’s yield from the extraction process? I’ve heard this several times and am curious if corporate America has been poisoning us for decades just to squeeze out a last few pennies of profit. Not that it would surprise me, mind you. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogenated-vegetable-oil/206133/8 "2003-10-08T23:03:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Anyone got a cite on how hydrogenation is performed merely to obtain a last few percent’s yield from the extraction process? I’ve never heard this, and fail to see how it would help; unsaturated oils should be more easily extracted than saturated oils, whether by chemical or mechanical extraction. Hydrogenation is performed (generally speaking) to get a solid fat from a vegetable oil – such solid fats have many uses, including shortening, spreads, and personal lubricants. It also increases the stability of the oil. Of course, I am mainly an end user, and there may be such practices described in materials not available to me; but AFAIK, only refined oils are hydrogenated. Might you be thinking of solvent extraction? This is what’s done to increase the yield of extraction.