They are very bad for your health, but they are devious: they hide in many products that we buy in supermarkets and which do not come from the Italian market (where they more or less disappeared about ten years ago), in powdered preparations, and in many baked goods that we buy when we eat away from home (vegan croissant? and wholemeal honey?). I am talking about hydrogenated fats, or those fats that undergo a hardening process, which leads to oils, especially vegetable oils, to reach a solid form that is convenient because it is stored more easily and is more suitable for the preparation of some foods. An example above all? Obviously the margarine.But if in Italian supermarkets the Italian product no longer contains hydrogenated fats, the one used for the preparation of widely consumed foods in bars and cafes is still “suspect”. Coffee creams, ginseng preparations, and obviously various croissants and foams, or syrups, owe their consistency to hydrogenated fats.

Why are they considered novice health fats? Because the inexpensive hydrogenation system would release trans fatty acids, or unsaturated fatty acids that are related to obesity, cardiovascular disease, dementia and atherosclerosis. In fact, these fats are just like paints: our body does not dispose of them easily. But from now on there could be a turning point: if we eat most of the products that contain hydrogenated fatty acids when we go out, for example in fast food restaurants and in many preparations imported and then used in catering, the decision of the Food and Drug Administration to make them disappear all products containing hydrogenated fats from the US market within three years , could also indirectly benefit our health.