Is vegetable oil the same as hydrogenated vegetable oil?!
Answers: Are they both bad for you?
No to both questions. Ordinary vegetable oil molecules consist of an E-shaped part called glycerol each of whose arms are joined to a long chain molecule called a fatty acid, of which there are various types. These are unsaturated: some of the bonds in them are double. Hydrogenation adds hydrogen atoms to these bonds, making them saturated - single bonds - and twists the chains, making them tangle more easily. This makes them thicker, more like animal fat in consistency, and enabling them to be used in ways which normally only animal fats can be used for, because they are saturated and thicker, such as shortening for pastry and in some kinds of margarine. The only place in the human body where these trans fatty acids, as they are known, are found naturally, are in sebum, which is the grease on the skin and in hair, where its role may be to kill bacteria. They are not found in the human diet under normal circumstances. It appears that they are unhealthy because the body mistakes them for ordinary fats and rejects healthier fats instead. They get incorporated into the insulating sheaths of nerve cells, where they are thought to cause damage. For instance, they are sometimes thought to contribute to dyspraxia, which is a form of unavoidable clumsiness. They also alter the composition of breastmilk and may increase the risk of heart disease.
Non-hydrogenated vegetable oil is ordinary oil extracted from seeds. It is largely unsaturated, and often contains fatty acids which are essential for survival, such as the omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 varieties. If these are heated excessively or for a long time, however, they become scorched and hazardous to health. Also, some ordinary vegetable oils contain harmful fatty acids, such as rapeseed oil, which is bad for the heart.
hydrogenated means its high in oxygen, not the same
Hydrogenation is a class of chemical reactions which result in an addition of hydrogen (H2) usually to unsaturated organic compounds.
It's done to unsaturated oils - like plain old vegetable oil - to extend the shelf life, but hydrogenation creates 'trans fats' which raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. Trans fats are also found naturally in foods like beef or cheese.
Regular vegetable oil is not 'bad' for you like hydrogenated vegetable oil is. For the most cholesterol healthy oils, choose canola or olive oil.
Vegetable oil is not that bad for you unless you consume lots of it, but hydrogenated vegetable oil is bad for you. Hydrogen is bubbled through the fat, and additives are added. Watch out for hydrogenated fats, as for some reason they are much worse for you than normal fats. If you want oil for cooking / salads use olive oil.
I am a former chef and true what Drusilla and the other fellow said, the hydrogen gas was added during the manufacturing process for two reasons, first to add air and fluff up the fats for cooking and baking, and secondly it added as a preservative quality, unlike lard which goes rancid overtime veg shortenings and oils do not but breakdown structurally.
It was a matter of cost many years ago, liquid fats for frying were very expensive, but now are the norm in all restaurant and because of the trans fat issues most fast food palces are using them more, and even Crisco is making a non hydrogenated shortening for baking.
Plain old veg oil whether it but corn, soya, sunflower, canola or olive are benefical for many reasons, but palm, cottonseed and other saturated fat oils still used in food processing have more saturated qualities to them and should be avoided. In moderation any liquid form oils are good for your system, they add vitamins, aid in digestion and allow the foods to be processed by the internal organs better.
David H nails it here.
Triglyceride-based vegetable fats and oils can be transformed through partial or complete hydrogenation into fats and oils of higher melting point. The hydrogenation process involves "sparging" the oil at high temperature and pressure with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst, typically a powdered nickel compound. As each double-bond in the triglyceride is broken, two hydrogen atoms form single bonds. The elimination of double-bonds by adding hydrogen atoms is called saturation; as the degree of saturation increases, the oil progresses towards being fully hydrogenated. An oil may be hydrogenated to increase resistance to rancidity (oxidation) or to change its physical characteristics. As the degree of saturation increases, the oil's viscosity and melting point increase.
The use of hydrogenated oils in foods has never been completely satisfactory. Because the center arm of the triglyceride is shielded somewhat by the end triglycerides, most of the hydrogenation occurs on the end triglycerides. This makes the resulting fat more brittle. A margarine made from naturally more saturated tropical oils will be more plastic (more "spreadable") than a margarine made from hydrogenated soy oil. In addition, partial hydrogenation results in the formation of trans fats, which have increasingly been viewed as unhealthy since the 1970s.
so stick with normal veg oil or even better switch to olive oil