Reading ingredient and nutrition labels on foods and drinks is the best way to determine if it fits within your diet and health goals. While skimming the ingredient lists on food labels, you’ll probably come across hydrogenated oil at some point and wonder if it’s bad for you.
Fully hydrogenated oil isn’t considered “bad” for you, whereas partially hydrogenated oil is harmful to your health.
What’s the difference between fully and partially hydrogenated oils, and which foods contain them? We’ll answer those questions and more in this article!
What is hydrogenated oil?
Hydrogenation is a process that adds hydrogen to unsaturated fats to make them saturated fats. So what are unsaturated and saturated fats?
Plant-based fat like vegetable oil is unsaturated, meaning it’s liquid at room temperature. In comparison, saturated fats are primarily found in animal-based products (like butter, cheese, etc.) and are solid at room temperature. Saturated fat is also found in plant-based oils like coconut oil and palm oil.
Purpose of hydrogenated oils
So why are unsaturated fats hydrogenated in the first place? It makes them more shelf-stable and turns the liquid fats into solids, which can prevent oil separation.
Take peanut butter as a prime example. Without hydrogenation, the liquid oils from the fat would separate from the solids, requiring you to mix them back together. With hydrogenation, there is no separation of the fat from the solid, so you can open a jar and not have to mix it before using the peanut butter.
Sources of hydrogenated oils
What else are hydrogenated oils in besides nut butters? Some common sources include:
- Commercially made baked goods (cookies, biscuits, etc.)
- Creamers for coffee
- Margarine
- Microwaveable popcorn
- Refrigerated dough (biscuits, cookies, etc.)
- Shortening
Is hydrogenated oil bad for you?
There are two types of hydrogenated oils in food – fully hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated. Partially hydrogenated oils create trans fats, a type of fat that harms your health and raises your risk of heart disease.
Fully hydrogenated oils do NOT create trans fats, so they aren’t considered as unhealthy as partially hydrogenated oils. Fully hydrogenated oils are high in saturated fat, though, which can cause imbalances in cholesterol levels in some people.
So the bottom line is that fully hydrogenated oil is NOT bad for you, whereas partially hydrogenated oil is considered bad for you because of the trans fats.
Ban on partially hydrogenated oil
The good news is that you don’t have to worry about partially hydrogenated oils and their trans fats in foods anymore! The United States Food and Drug Administration banned the use of partially hydrogenated oils in 2018 because they were no longer considered GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) due to the presence of trans fats.
FAQs:
Fully hydrogenated oil isn’t unhealthy like its partially hydrogenated form, which was banned by the United States FDA in 2018.
Some forms of peanut butter contain hydrogenated oils or oils rich in saturated fat (such as palm oil) to help make them more shelf-stable and prevent oil separation. You can find natural peanut butter without hydrogenated oils or any added oils as well.
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