Unsaturated fatty acid

Unsaturated fatty acid (UFA), such as monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), can have positive health benefits when consumed in sufficient quantities. Actually there so many fat types and certain types have benefits for heart health?
Classification of fats and oils can be viewed from several aspects, one of which is its saturation aspect. They can be distinguished based on its double bonds. Saturated (SFA) if it doesn’t has any double bond and unsaturated if it has one, two or three double bonds.
Examples of unsaturated fat
There are so many kind of agricultural product which contain high UFA, such as sunflower, canola, olive, soybean, peanut, flax seed, and fish oil.
The examples mentioned above, more specifically also contain high essential fatty acids - linoleic acid (Omega 6), alpha linoleic acid (Omega 3) and arachidonic acid. The scientists found that they proved to have several important benefits such as helping the body burn the fat, lower bad cholesterol (LDL), helps in the lubrication of joints, prevent strokes, maintaining blood pressure, and optimize brain health.
Unsaturated fat benefits
Is good fat really exist? We always have long been told to limit the amount of fat in our diet in order to keep our cholesterol levels. The fact is, we need a certain amount of them in our diets. It helps us absorb essential vitamins like A, D, E, and K
A study by Grundy from the Faculty of Medicine, California, USA, proves that the body's cholesterol levels may go down if the diet contains more MUFA and PUFA than SFA. Dietary SFA for a month proved to raise cholesterol levels. While the dietary MUFA, dropped it sharply, including LDL and HDL. In dietary PUFA, LDL and total cholesterol decreased, while HDL relatively unchanged.
PUFA are known to increase the intelligence and the immune system of children under five. Long chain unsaturated fatty acid (especially the omega - 3 DHA) have been shown to play an important role in the prevention and treatment of blocked arteries (atherosclerosis), thrombosis, hypertriglyceridemia, and high blood pressure. It has the potential for prevention and treatment of asthma, arthritis, migraine, and some types of cancer which is prostate, breast and colon cancer.
Unsaturated fat types
Most of UFA are fatty acids containing one double bond in their hydrocarbon chain. Fatty acids with more than one double bond are unusual, mainly found in vegetable oil, and called by PUFA. Polyunsaturated triglycerides tend to form oil.
PUFA can lower total blood cholesterol, especially LDL. If you want to consume this, you can be choose fish, seafood, safflower oil (Carthamus tinctorius), and sun flower oil. MUFA can reduce the presence of bad fats in the blood, such as cholesterol. By consuming them, HDL rises and LDL cholesterol goes down. So, it is good to be eaten for health. It is contained in olive oil, canola oil peanut oils, meat, fish, poultry, and avocado.
Unsaturated fat health risk
Although it is considered as a good fat, excessive consumption of UFA remain dangerous. If the total fat intake is more than 30 percent of food consumed, fat deposits in the body will increase. It increases the risk factor of increased blood fat that can cause heart and blood vessel disease. UFA forms the cell wall of the body. Consumption of high UFA should be followed by adequate intake of antioxidants such as vitamin E.
SFA, UFA, and trans would enhance the body's calorie. The public still considers only SFA which is bad for health, which are widely found in meat and its derivative products and fried foods. Each 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, whereas 1 gram of starchy produces only 4 calories.
In addition to long chain SFA, trans fats is also bad for health. These are produced through industrial processes, such as margarine and cooking oil. In food packaging, it is called as hydrogenated fat. They do not only increase LDL, but also lowers the amount of good cholesterol. Unlike the SFA that only increase LDL.
The role of unsaturated fatty acid need to be studied further to ensure the influence of food and agricultural products that contain these components on human health.

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How to choose healthy cooking oil

How to choose healthy cooking oil is generally an important consideration for the good housewives as they would fry food for their family. Frying is a food processing using a very high temperature with the aid of oil as the heat transfer medium. But because a small portion of them was absorbed by the fried food, then it should be good quality as this can affect the flavor (taste, flavor, and aroma) of fried foods.
Unethical advertising fool the consumers
The lack of knowledge of the housewives about cooking oil can result in disadvantages. Their consideration usually based on advertising or promotion by the manufacturer. Whereas in promoting their products, manufacturers often violate norms and business ethics. Coconut oil, used to be, is the only cooking oil that is used in Indonesia but is now being pressured by the market for palm oil. It contains saturated fatty acids (SFA) in high quantities so often 'accused' as the source of coronary heart disease.
Now, on the market many cooking oil made from raw materials such as coconut, palm, soybean, corn, and sunflower seed oil. Even some of that were a mixture of two kinds of the oil. In addition, there are also palm cooking oil which come from different manufacturing process than other vegetable oils. The first product is known as the product from single fractionation while the second from the double fractionation.
Through the heating and pressing, from palm fruit will be obtained crude palm oil (CPO) which is reddish orange because they contain beta-carotene (about 400-700 ppm). It is composed of two fractions: namely solid fraction (stearin) and liquid fraction (olein). To become a cooking oil, CPO is undergoing the first refining process, namely neutralization, washing, decolorization (bleaching), and odor removal (deodorization) to obtain refined bleached deodorized palm oil (RBDPO). The second refining is the fractionation process which is often also referred as the screening. It will separate the solid from the liquid by lowering the oil temperature (to 20 degrees Celsius) and then filtered the solid part.
The solid product contained in the liquid is known as the solid fat content (SFC). Palm oil obtained from a single fractionation process at a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius contains about 15-20% SFC, while those obtained from the double process only contains about 0-5% SFC. Double fractionated palm oil will always be liquid at low temperatures because the content of SFC was also low. While the single fractionated palm oil will freeze when soaked in ice water because the content was higher SFC. In other words, the content of unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) of double fractionated product is higher than the other one. This is then associated with the state of the oil (fat) in the body. It means if the oil (from the single process) is frozen in the ice water so it will also be frozen in the human body. Though the body temperature is about 37 celcius degrees and quiet different with the ice or refrigeration temperature. Of course this kind of advertising or promotion certainly fool consumers. Cooking oil was changed into solid phase when it is stored in the refrigerated room so that it would appear whitish. It does not mean that there were deterioration on their quality but because its SFA content is relatively high so it freezes faster than the product contains more UFA.
There are sometime cooking oil manufacturers who claim that their products do not contain cholesterol. This is completely misleading because all kinds of cooking oils derived from plant materials, does not contain cholesterol.
Oil saturation affects the health ?
People often consider the saturated fatty acid levels in the oil when they ask how to choose healthy cooking oil. Does that thought have strong support? Indeed, too much when we question its fatty acids composition. For example, certain cooking oils containing UFA are claimed to be better than oils containing SFA.
First, the amount of oil contained in fried foods is relatively small (except for the pan-fried food) and secondly, during the frying, UFA will be broken down due to high temperature during the frying (about 150-180 degrees Celsius). So that the amount of UFA are expected to be consumed, actually very little.
Coronary heart disease is not only due to the ingestion of SFA. Many other factors must be considered. It has been scientifically proven, the palm oil consumption, although it contain relatively high SFA, does not cause atherosclerosis (clogged arteries) and coronary heart disease. This is because its SFA containing medium carbon chain (unlike animal fat) in the body so it is more widely used as an energy source and does not raise cholesterol levels (LDL) in blood.
Excessive consumption of unsaturated fatty acids would endanger the health because it can form more radical compounds in the body. Something that can damage cells and tissues.
A study proves, the unsaturated fatty acids consumption will increase the chances of excessive destruction of blood vessels due to atherosclerosis by radical compounds. The experts always recommend the use of high UFA must be accompanied by a high consumption of vitamin E as well. Cardiologists Medical Association in U.S. recommends that consumption of oil / fat is limited to about 30% of total calories consumed (approximately 90-100 g of oil / fat per day). Oils / fats should consist of 10% SFA, 10% monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and 10% poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). This statement clearly indicates, the consumption of SFA are allowed in reasonable quantities. Especially if the source is only from of fried food.
Indeed there is scientific evidence that UFA can lower cholesterol levels and can prevent the atherosclerosis onset and coronary heart disease, but the oil must be consumed in a crude state. Not as cooking oil, such as salad oil (salad oil).
Other tips
How to choose healthy cooking oil can also be done simply. First, see the clarity and second, whether its smell is rancid or not. A good one is clear and no smell rancid.

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Emulsifier as antioxidant in food

Emulsifier as antioxidant in food can play an important role to stabilize the fat or oil in the product against oxidative damage during storage. In oil-in-water emulsion systems (oil-in-water), Oil globules are surrounded by emulsifier molecule membrane so as to prevent the joining of globules. In addition, emulsifier membrane which is as interfacial region (interfacial region) can also act as a barrier to protect oil from oxidation processes induced by transition metals or free radicals.
The mechanism of oxidation of oil in the emulsion system is very different from the oil oxidation in bulk form due to the phenomenon of interfacial layer. The process of oxidation in the system is the oxidation of the interface (interfacial oxidation), which is a reaction that depends on the speed of diffusion of oxygen and its interaction with unsaturated fatty acids, metals and free radicals. So It is a phenomenon of interfaces which is strongly influenced by the properties of the interface itself. An understanding of the interfacial layer to be interesting to explain this phenomenon because of its nature as a physical barrier that alter the interaction between oil and water-soluble prooxidant..
Electric charge on the emulsion layer interface can be modified through the use of anionic surfactants, cationic or nonionic. The difference of electric charge becomes a challenging research because it affects the attraction or electrostatic repulsion of emulsifier to prooxidant and antioxidants which can speed up or slow down the oxidation reaction.
Role of emulsifier as antioxidant in food is also explained as follows. Long polar groups of surfactant and the addition of surfactant above the Micelles Critical Concentration or CMC to form micelles in aqueous phase is expected to hold and dissolve more prooxidant components which approach the interface, thereby increasing the oxidative stability of oil. Although some studies showed that the interface layer electric charge becomes an important factor in the oxidative stability of oil in water emulsion, but only little is known about how the other properties of the interfacial layer effect on the oxidative stability.
Partition behavior of the component effects on its reactivity at oil-in-water emulsion system. Nonpolar antioxidants in the fat globules are more effective in inhibiting oxidation than polar antioxidants which is significantly dissolved into the continuous phase. Emulsions containing surfactant micelles above the CMC produces the continuous phase. Micelles will be able to break and dissolve the antioxidant components or prooxidant approaching fat globules into the water phase of the system so it is expected to provide better oxidative stability. This mechanism is expected to be the new perspective to escort the oxidative stability of oil in water emulsion.
Selection of an appropriate emulsifier such as long-and short polar groups and the concentration of emulsifier used will affect the mechanism of oxidation of oil. Utilization of surfactant micelles to solubilize prooxidant to the water phase can be understood as an antioxidant technology because it can attract ions of transition metals from fat globules into the water phase. This method can provides more effective way to improve the oxidative stability of emulsion-based processed food products. Thus, the role of emulsifier as antioxidant in food is important in addition to its function as an emulsion stabilizer.

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Palm oil composition

Palm oil composition consists of a balanced fatty acid, with saturated fatty acids (SFA) content are almost the same with unsaturated fatty acids (UFA). It contains 14-45% palmitic (C16), 39-40% oleic (C18:1), 10-11% linoleic (C18:2), and 0.3 to 0.4% linolenic acid (C18:3). Linoleic and linolenic content low enough, so that it is quite stable to oxidation.
Palm oil from E. guineensis has C16 content between 27-55%, 28-56% C18:1 and C18:2 from 6.5 to 18%, while from Elaeis oleifera (widely cultivated in South and Central America) are more unsaturated than Elaeis Guineensis. The yield from Brazil are generally more unsaturated (C18:1 content of an average of 43.2% and C18:2 on average 11.5%). Similarly, the product from the Elaeis oleifera species , commonly cultivated in South America, contains 55-64% C18:1 and 16-23% C18:2. Elaeis oleifera has a ratio of the oil / bunches which is very low, so that it is commercially uneconomical. Crosses between the Eg x Eo is a hybrid that produces yield with characteristics in between.
Palm oil composition showed triacylglycerol or TAG consisting of C46 to C56, with the main TAG is C50 and C52. It can produce a variety of further processed products (olein, stearin, PMF, super olein, etc.). They also contain some useful minor components, among which are the carotenoids (500-700 ppm), tocopherols & tocotrienols (600-1000), sterols (326-527), ubiquinone (10-80), squalene (200-500) , phospholipids (5-130), triterpene alcohols (40-80), methyl sterols (40-80), aliphatic alcohols (100-200). Most of the components are no longer detectable in the refined product, except tocopherols & tocotrienols, sterols, ubiquinone, or squalene which is still quite high in quantity. Carotens and tocopherols are potent antioxidants and stabilize it against oxidation. During refining, bleaching processes, and steam deodorization remove some of these valuable components. The amount remaining in the refined product depends on the refining conditions.
They contain disaturated TAGs(POP and PPO) with high melting point and monosaturated TAGs (POO and OPO) with low melting point. Palm oil composition is unique among vegetable oils because its significant content of SFA (10-15%) at pos.-2 of the TAGs.

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Vitamin A fortification to frying oil

Today, vitamin A deficiency in developing countries should be given more attention. The current intake is still low, only 20% of the RDA. It because of the most food of the developing countries is based on cereal, their low purchasing power, and lack of indifference to the problem of malnutrition. Vitamin A supplementation program still needs to be repaired.
One effort to overcome these problems is the vitamin A fortification in frying oil. The fortification has been proven safe and effective, as well as low cost and high benefit. From the results of several studies from Bogor Agriculture Institute of Indonesia, vitamin A is proved stable against heating. Its retention on the first pan bread lasuna (temperature 160-170) is still around 89%, and will be reduced on the second and third frying. The same result is found in several other products, such as fish, potatoes, and so on.

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Palm oil uses

Palm oil uses covers a very wide field, ranging from food, health, oleochemicals, etc.. Unlike the other oil-bearing plants, its trees provide us two (2) types of products. Both can be processed into various types of derivative products. In the harvested bunches, we can get skin and bunches (29%), seeds or kernel (11%), and fruit flesh / fibers (60%). Pressing process of its fruit flesh (mesocarp) will produce (i) crude palm oil or CPO and its kernel (endosperm) will give us (ii) crude palm kernel oil or CPKO. Both have unique chemical characteristics and different nutrition.
Food and non-food application
It has the potential to be used in various applications. In practice, CPO is further processed or fractionated into olein which is raw material for cooking or frying oil. For other food purposes, it is widely used as shortening, margarine, vanaspati, cocoa butter substitutes, and other various ingredients. Its applications for non-food purposes also continues to grow, especially for oleochemicals, i.e. fatty acid, glycerin, etc., and various material for chemical industries, eg for the pharmaceutical industry. However, its main application is still for food stuff.
Palm oil uses in the food product formulation will provide better durability, because it is very stable against the process of rancidity and other oxidative damage. For that reason, it is the best for cooking or frying. They have a tendency to get crystallized in the form of small crystals, so that it can improve the performance of creaming when used in cakes and margarine formulations. Its palmitic acid content is very good for the aerated mixing of fat and sugar, for example in the baking process.
As fat products
They are good to be used to make vanaspati or vegetable ghee, which contains 100% vegetable fat; and then it can be used to substitute cocoa butter and butter milk. Bread produced from shortening from palm oil, has a better texture and durability. It is also widely used for the cream biscuits production, especially since its solids content and relatively high melting point.
With temperature regulation and fractionation techniques, it will obtain a variety of fractions with different characteristics and with a specific application purposes, in addition to olein and stearin fraction. One of popular method is double fractionation to result the superolein and the middle fraction (palm mid fraction/ PMF). PMF is used for manufacturing Cocoa Butter Equivalent (CBE) which has much higher economic value and used as a substrate for enzymatic reaction to yield CBE. On the world market; it can be priced to about USD480/ton. It is referred as specialty fats and has a very useful melting point for example if it is used as raw material for the manufacture of chocolate bars. Chocolate bars will remain solid at room temperature, but it soon melted in the mouth when chewed.
Palm oil uses could be developed even further in the future along with the rise of research to produce derivative products such as biodiesel.

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Emulsifier structure

Emulsifier structure allows the activity of the surface (surface-active agents) that lowers the surface tension between the air-liquid and liquid-liquid contained in a food system. Its ability to lower the that tension becomes interesting because they have a miracle chemical structure of compounds capable of uniting two different polarity and at the same polarity protect fats from oxidation because it acts as a barrier (barrier) to metals and free radicals.
The ability of emulsifier structure to lowers the tension because it break the hydrogen bonds at the surface through the withdrawal of the hydrophilic heads on the water surface with a hydrophobic tail extends away. Their tail is hydrophobic which extends into the fat globule, while the head facing the water molecule. So, it gives the hydrophilic coat surrounding globule fat to form an emulsion.
The mechanism of emulsion formation begins with the provision of energy to form a new interface in an emulsion system. At first a liquid dispersed by mechanical means into the liquid to another. The amount of work needed to form globule largely determined by the size of its diameter. Just to mention one example, for dispersing 1 ml of olive oil with a diameter of 5 micrometers in 10 m cubic water needs energy of about 274,800 ergs. However, the amount of this energy will be reduced significantly become only 36,000 ergs when using emulsifiers, because emulsifier structure can reduce tension between the surface of 22.9 dyne / cm to 3 dyne / cm.

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