Trans Fats: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
T
he Good: The good news about trans fats is walls. Researchers do not know all of the effects
that most likely you have heard about trans of trans fats in the body. However, if omega 3 and
fats and you know that they are not healthy. omega 6 fatty acids are essential for life, and peo-
However, many individuals only have superficial ple are much healthier taking omega 3 fatty acids
awareness of the topic. The purpose of this article is to (because most people already get enough omega 6s),
deepen your understanding to a point that you have a and these fatty acids are changed into important sig-
conviction about avoiding trans fats. naling molecules that affect the whole body, why
consume a trans fat that will interfere with nor-
The Bad: The bad news about trans fats is mal function at the cellular level and con-
that they are very unhealthy. This article will tribute to various diseases?
hopefully give some perspective on what Studies show that the average American
“unhealthy” means. To share personally, in consumes between 2 and 4% of daily en-
my home, my wife and I try to keep food ergy intake as TFA, or between 5-10g/day in
“rules” simple. We strive to get our sons (7 an average 2000 kcal/day diet. One study,
and 9) to eat healthy food, vegetables, fruit, that measured TFA in human breast milk,
adequate protein, vitamin D, fish oil, etc. But showed an average of 10 g/day. This study
as far as “rules”, we avoid trans fats and ar- is highly concerning, because it shows, by
tificial sweeteners and minimize food dyes. direct measurement, that the actual amount
We could do more, but avoiding trans fats is a of TFAs ingested is on the higher end of the
very high priority for my family and me. estimated range. And unfortunately, these
TFAs will also be consumed by infants.
What is a trans fat? Research has shown that TFA consump-
tion elevates the risk of coronary heart dis-
A trans fat (TFA) is an unsaturated fatty ease (CHD). In the Nurse's Health Study, a
acid that has been chemically modified from nurse's CHD risk approximately doubled for
the “cis” form to a “trans” form. Those are organic each 2% increase in trans fat calories. This con-
chemistry terms referring to the structure of the double bonds. trasts with the finding that it takes more than a 15% increase in
The starting oil could be from soybean, corn, peanut, cotton- saturated fat calories to produce a similar risk increase. Another
seed (with pesticides added in for free), or safflower. The chemi- study has shown a positive association between serum TFA lev-
cal process was developed in 1901 by the German chemist Wil- els and breast cancer. And another has shown a positive asso-
helm Normann. Food manufacturers liked the process because ciation between margarine intake and asthma. In healthy term -
the shortening that was developed worked better than lard. and especially premature infants - plasma TFA levels have been
Crisco was one of the early products developed. The nature of inversely associated with birth weight but not gestational age.
the process causes the fatty acid to “straighten” by changing Another study showed that for each 2% increase in energy from
from a cis to trans configuration. The new structure changes oils TFA, there was a 73% increased risk of ovulatory infertility.
that were liquid at room temperature to become solid at room The National Academy of Sciences has stated that TFAs are
temperature. For food production, foods with TFAs have a lon- not essential and provide no known benefit to human health. It
ger shelf life and need less refrigeration. has concluded that there is no safe level of trans fat consump-
In general, these fats do not exist in nature. Vegetable oils tion.
are naturally in the cis form and animal fats are naturally in the The Ugly: The ugly news is that the Food and Drug Ad-
cis form or saturated. A small percentage of dairy fat (approx. ministration issued rules in 2008 requiring labeling of TFA.
2-5%) is in the trans form due to bacterial action in ruminant’s However, the regulation states that foods with less than 0.5 g
stomachs, but it is a different structure than margarine (which of TFA per serving may be labeled as 0 g trans fat on the food
contains man-made TFAs) and the health effect is considered label. Products containing TFA may state “0 grams trans fat” on
limited. The body is not designed to handle trans fats. Enzymes the front and state 0 g on the food label, yet contain TFA. This
such as lipase that help digest fats do not process trans fats well. is confusing to consumers, who think they are making healthy
Other enzymes involved with processing fatty acids, such as choices but may actually be consuming several grams of trans
delta 6 desaturase, are interfered with by TFAs. The body me- fats each day. Consumers must now read the fine print of all
tabolizes fats for energy, as well as creating signaling molecules ingredients to protect themselves and their families. “0+0+0” =
such as prostaglandins and leukotrienes, and forming all cell bad health. Shame on the FDA.
22 NaturalNutmeg www.naturalnutmeg.com
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