Utilization Of Lipids In Food Processing

Implications on Human Health

- Ajit Bhatnagar

Simple lipids (fats & oils) and compound lipids (phospholipids are extensively utilized all over the world for food applications in the form of speciality fats, shortenings, butter, margarine, emulsifiers, salad oils, cooking oils etc. A major share (75%) of worldwide consumption of fats and oils is in the form of food applications. Despite the well established scientific facts that excess of saturated fats and even minor amounts of trans-fats are deleterious to human health, most of the lipid based food applications contain copious amounts of saturated fats and trans-fats. The major reason for saturated fats and trans-fats being the favorite of food industry is the excellent oxidative stability and high melting point thereby enhancing the multipurpose utility of speciality saturated fats and trans-fats in bakery, confectionary, and snack food industries. This present scenario is leading to increased health risks in humans on consumption of these processed foods while it acts as a conundrum and poses a challenge to lipid scientists to improve the nutritional quality and health risks of processed foods without compromising the sensory and rheometric quality of processed foods.