Recently, unidentified types of vegetable oils have spread in the market, that is, only written on them: edible oil, vegetable oil, etc. These are oils consisting mostly of soybean oil with corn oil, cottonseed oil, or other cheap oils. One of the reasons for not explicitly mentioning the components of the oils is to hide that one of their components is soybean oil after growing awareness of the unsuitability of this oil for health, because extracting the oil from hard soybeans requires complex technical processes that include crushing soybeans, then crushing them and then extracting the oil from them by exposing them to high temperatures. and high pressure with the use of chemical solvents. Nutritionally, during production, soybean oil is exposed to light, heat, and oxygen, which destroys the nutrients in it and carries it with free radicals that cause cell death. The damage is also represented by the oil’s rancidity and the appearance of an unpleasant smell in it, and this prompts the manufacturing companies to expose the oil again to light hydrogenation and high heat to refine it and rid it of the unpleasant smell to become acceptable to the consumer, and this dies the oil and changes its composition.

Soy Butter and Soy Ghee:

Soy margarine and soy shortening are products similar to regular butter and regular margarine because liquid soy oil is treated with hydrogen to turn its texture into solid and then other substances such as starch and soapy emulsions are added to it, after which the yellow color and flavor are added to it. It was produced as substitutes for butter and ghee from animal sources. Today, 90% of these alternatives are made from soybean oil. Soy butter or hydrogenated soybean oil and ghee are widely used in food processing, especially in the fast food industry (soaking potatoes before frying) and the production of vegetable cream types (especially whipped) because it extends the life of the product and improves its shape. From a nutritional point of view, soy butter (and its ghee, albeit to a lesser degree) is considered one of the trans fats, which is the worst type of fat that can cause many diseases, starting with heart disease, cancer and obesity, and not ending with autism and learning difficulties.

It is important to know that good, unprocessed fats are important to the body, as 60% of the human brain is made up of fats, and fats are necessary to transport vitamins A, D, E, and K, facilitate the absorption of minerals, build hormones, moisturize the skin, support vital organs such as the heart, kidneys and liver, and ensure the flexibility of cell walls. , and curb appetite. And the call to eat enough good fats in the body contradicts the current wave calling for reducing fats without distinguishing between what is beneficial and necessary and what is harmful, but this wave has begun to recede (albeit slowly) with the growing awareness of the dangers of food manufacturing and the change it causes in the structure of foods The body accepts her.

Sharifa Mohammed Al-Aboudi