The average person consumes more than five grams of trans fatty acids each day, according to the University of California Davis.
But that level of consumption can be extremely unhealthy. And that’s one of the reasons why four students at Utah State University devote much of their time to researching replacements for trans fat in every day foods.
Silvana Martini, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences, is advising the undergraduate international students in a research project in which the group’s members are attempting to replace lipids and trans fats with something healthy but still holds its structure.
“There is a big tendency in the food industry trying to replace trans fat,” Martini said. “The main problem is when you try to take the trans fat out and try to put a fat that is a little bit healthier in, then you don’t get all the good properties in terms of structure. One of the functions of fatty food is that it provides structure.”
It is difficult to find something to replace fats to make a product healthier, without losing much if its structure, she said.
“There has been a tendency of using waxes and vegetable oils to generate a lipid structure that is hard enough to be used as a trans fat replacement,” Martini said.
By way of example: A stick of butter.
“So when you have butter,” Martini said, “when you take it out of the fridge, it has to be solid. But when you put it on your toast, you want it to start melting. And then when you put it in your mouth, you want it to completely melt. That is what we call the melting profile.”
Chin Yiap Tan, also known as “Rex,” is a sophomore from Malaysia, and one of the undergraduate students working on this research.
“I actually spend all of my free time here,” Tan said. “Today, I finished my class at 9:50. I spent from 10 until 5:30 or 6 in the lab.”
Tan completes tasks ranging from measuring stability to inputting data into the computer system.
The undergrads constantly test how lipids and oils will hold substantially in food products. Pictures are taken of wax crystals and their reaction over time.
“We use the microscopes to look at wax crystals,” Martini said. “Because we think that the crystallization behavior is going to depend on what types of crystals we have.”
David Thomas, Brie Geller, Mackinzie Hamilton, Marissa Shields, Ashley Howell and Danielle Manley contributed to this report.
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