Maybe lame, but what do they do to "paritally hydrogenate" oil?

Oils are chemically composed of long hydrocarbon chains. Hydrogenating a natural oil makes the ratio of hydrogen to carbon atoms greater, essentially saturating the compound with hydrogen. It's a chemical process where hydrogen gas is introduced to oil in a chemical plant. This solidifies oil and makes it unhealthy for you, although many foods contain it because it is a cheaply made fat product that easily substitutes butter, etc. As a rule the more hydrogenated a compound the more unhealthy it is for you, which is why hydrogenated oil and saturated fat are bad, whereas natural olive oil and the likes are good.

It's complicated, at least to me, but the process involves a catalytic reaction in which vegetable oil is exposed to a metal catalyst and hydrogen gas. The liquid oil is changed chemically to solid or partially solid at room temp. The benefits are longer shelf life and better texture for baking-the drawback is that saturated fats have detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system. In other words, if you're eating foods high in partially saturated fat you might as well eat bacon or butter-the health effects are the same.

I'm not sure what's so bad about hydrogenate oils in terms of your health, but it's a mass produced product. There are millions of acres just dedicated for the production of hydrogenate oils, so that massive amount crop requires deforestation, which is obviously not good for the environment, and the people!

It's how most margarine is made..

Here's some information for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenated_oil#In_t...