What is the difference between partially hydrogenated oils and fully hydrogenated oils?
Hydrogenation is the process by which liquid vegetable oil is turned into solid fat. Partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fats. However, when liquid vegetable oil is fully hydrogenated, almost no trans fats remain. Full hydrogenation increases the amount of saturated fats, mostly in the form of stearic acid. Stearic acid does not raise levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. This makes fully hydrogenated fats less harmful than partially hydrogenated fats.
