The Chemistry of Oils and Fats: Sources, Composition, Properties and Uses

Ara Kanekanian (UWIC, Cardiff, UK)

British Food Journal

ISSN: 0007-070X

Article publication date: 1 July 2005

861

Keywords

Citation

Kanekanian, A. (2005), "The Chemistry of Oils and Fats: Sources, Composition, Properties and Uses", British Food Journal, Vol. 107 No. 7, pp. 535-536. https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700510606936

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


This is an interesting textbook with well‐balanced topics by Professor Frank Gunstone, a very well known scientist in this field. The contents, 11 chapters, cover most aspects of fats and oils regarding their sources, extraction and processing, the chemistry, analytical procedures, physical, chemical and nutritional properties and their edible and non‐edible uses.

Chapter 1, covers the sources and constituents of all the well known vegetable/plant fats and oils such as soybean, sunflower, olive and tall (pine) oils, to the minor vegetable oils such as avocado, hemp, hazelnut and tung oil (China wood oil which dries faster than linseed oil). The chapter also covers the other constituents naturally found in fats and oils.

Chapter 2 briefly covers all aspects of oil extraction, refining and processing in quite interesting and informative manner.

The chemical aspects of fats and oils were covered in three chapters illustrating the structure of fatty acids, the nomenclatures in common use, their physical and chemical properties as well as a brief description of the branched chain, oxygenated and halogenated fatty acids together with the chemistry of lipids and phospholipids. The chemical and biological synthesis of fatty acids and lipids was clearly demonstrated.

The physical, chemical and nutritional properties were well covered in four chapters. Regarding the physical aspect, spectroscopic properties covered ultraviolet, ESR, NMR and MS with brief description of their principles. The other physical properties such as viscosity and refractive index were also adequately explained. The chemical properties, on the other hand, were discussed in more details. The properties related to the unsaturated centres of the fatty acids were clearly demonstrated regarding the mechanism of hydrogenation, oxidation, halogenation and other reactions. The properties of the carboxyl group, especially the reactions concerning esterification, were reasonably explained. Of interest to nutritionists concerning about the role of oils and fats in diet, chapter 9 clearly elucidated the importance of fats in health and the onset of certain diseases. The role of lipids in functional foods formulations was, unfortunately, very brief and should have been expanded further.

The last two chapters were dedicated to the edible and non‐edible uses of oils and fats. On their edible use, the importance of spreads such as butter, margarine and vanaspati (vegetable ghee), baking fats, frying and salad oils and confectionery fats were adequately summarised. The final chapter on the use of non‐edible oils and fats was also of interest to all those involved in studying the subject. It briefly covered the basic oleochemicals production, surfactants, lubricants, biodiesel and many other compounds.

In summary, the book could be considered as a good source of information on most aspects of oils and fats to academics and students alike. All chapters were well referenced with up‐to‐date publications together with few relevant websites to choose. Only a single typographical error was found which is quite common in some other published works.

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