When cooking with oil, smoking is an indicator of a change toward which fatty acid configuration?

Prepare for the NANP Food and Nutrition Exam with comprehensive flashcards and multiple choice questions. Each question includes hints and thorough explanations. Ensure your success on exam day!

Multiple Choice

When cooking with oil, smoking is an indicator of a change toward which fatty acid configuration?

Explanation:
When oil is heated to the point of smoking, the energy can cause cis double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids to rearrange into the trans configuration. This cis-to-trans isomerization makes the fatty acids more thermally stable at high temperatures, contributing to the breakdown products that produce smoke. So smoking signals that the oil is undergoing a change toward trans fatty acids, rather than simply flipping to or from cis, or only breaking down triglycerides without a change in double-bond geometry.

When oil is heated to the point of smoking, the energy can cause cis double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids to rearrange into the trans configuration. This cis-to-trans isomerization makes the fatty acids more thermally stable at high temperatures, contributing to the breakdown products that produce smoke. So smoking signals that the oil is undergoing a change toward trans fatty acids, rather than simply flipping to or from cis, or only breaking down triglycerides without a change in double-bond geometry.

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