Recent research on crystallization behavior of sunflower oil-based fats for edible applications

M L HERRERA; SILVANA MARTINI

Crystallization of Lipids- Fundamentals and Applications in Food, Cosmetics and Pharmaceuticals

Wiley Blackwell

Año: 2018; p. 323 - 352

On June 16th 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially concluded that partially hydrogenated oils are not assumed to be safe for human consumption. FDA gave companies three years to remove the ingredients containing trans-fat or to apply for permission to use them (Cassiday, 2015). In other countries, legislation allows using hydrogenated vegetable oils. However, it influenced the reduction of trans-fat in foods. One of the alternatives developed to replace trans-fat is the plant breeding through biotechnology and conventional techniques which allow modifying fatty acid composition of oils and improving its functionality in foods. In this way, stearic acid rich fats were developed due to their low impact on consumer health, plasticity, and stability (Crupkin and Zambelli, 2008). Available scientific information enables to confirm with reasonable evidence that when stearic acid is consumed in less than 7% of the total energy, lipid profile, thrombotic factors, hemodynamic and cardiovascular risk molecular markers are not modified (Kris Etherton et al., 2005; Crupkin and Zambelli, 2008; Hunter et al., 2010). This aspect distinguishes stearic acid from other saturated fatty acids present in diets, such as palmitic, lauric, and myristic since it ranks among monounsaturated acid, such as oleic acid while the others are considered hypercholesterolemic (Valenzuela et al., 2011).