Trans Fat's Strong Link to Cancer, Diabetes & Heart Disease, and How to Avoid It
by www.SixWise.com
Trans fatty acid, also known as trans fat, is an artery-clogging
fat formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, a process
called hydrogenation. Many manufacturers use this process
of hydrogenation because it reduces cost and increases the
shelf life and flavor stability of their food.
Hundreds of household food items such as commercially prepared
baked goods and margarine, and commercially prepared fried
foods like onion rings, contain significant amounts of trans
fatty acids. Astoundingly, typical French fries contain about
40% trans fatty acids, many popular cookies and crackers have
from 30 to 50%, and doughnuts include some 35 to 40% trans
fat.
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The healthiest choice for your family is to eat food
as close to its natural state as possible.
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Dangers of Trans Fat
Trans fat poses various serious health risks. It raises your
body's level of bad cholesterol (LDL) while scrubbing
away the good cholesterol (HDL) that keeps your arteries clean.
Your arteries can become clogged, making them inflexible,
which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
Trans fat can also increase triglycerides and inflammation,
a direct link to an increased risk of diabetes.
Your best strategy is to get as close
to a near-zero intake of trans fats as possible. Some
Americans, without even realizing it, eat 30 to 40 grams of
trans fat daily.
The FDA predicts that by just removing trans fat from all
margarines -- currently 70% are high in trans fats -- 6,300
heart attacks would be prevented each year. They also state
that the elimination of trans fat in just 3% of breads and
cakes and 15% of cookies and crackers would save an astronomical
$59-billion in health care costs in the next 20 years.
O-R-E-O Spells National Attention to Trans Fat
On May 1, 2003, Stephen Joseph, a public interest lawyer,
filed suit against Nabisco to stop the sale of Oreo cookies
in California due to their high, but unlisted, level of trans
fat. Within a week, he dropped the suit before Kraft, the
parent company of Nabisco, was even served.
Mr. Joseph, founder of BanTransFats.com, said, "The
factual and legal basis for the lawsuit when it was filed
was that the American people did not know about trans fat.
At best, perhaps 10 to 15 percent knew. The American people
were being kept in the dark by the food manufacturers. The
word 'trans fat' is not even on food labels."
He continued, "After three days of incredible national
publicity, everyone in America knows about trans fats, and
if anybody doesn't, I don't know where on earth they've been
hiding. The factual and legal basis for the lawsuit has totally
disappeared. I certainly could not tell a court now that nobody
knows about trans fat."
Mr. Joseph filed the suit targeting America's favorite
cookie to make consumers aware of the dangers of the practice
of adding partially hydrogenated oils to food -- and it
worked.
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The U.S. Agriculture Department says that partially
hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain trans fats,
are present in about 40 percent of the food on grocery
shelves. Food manufacturers have known about the dangers
of trans fats since the 1950s and have been fighting
regulations that would force them to inform consumers
for nearly as long. After the
National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine
said that trans fats shouldn't be consumed at all,
the Food and Drug Administration immediately moved to
have a line added to nutrition labels stating, "Intake
of trans fat should be as low as possible.
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Finally, a Trans Fats Regulation
For years it's been almost impossible to avoid trans
fatty acids because manufacturers have not been required to
post trans fat content on their product's nutrition label.
Fortunately, things are about to change.
Effective January 1, 2006, a trans fat regulation requires
manufacturers to list the amount of trans fats on food nutrition
labels directly under the line for saturated fat. Even products
that contain no fat or no trans fat are required to list the
absence of trans fat on the label, unless the product qualifies
to bear a "simplified Nutrition Facts" and has a
0 value for total fat and does not declare a value for saturated
fat.
Surprisingly, this regulation comes as the first significant
change to the Nutrition Facts panel since it was established
in 1993.
Under the new FDA regulations, by Jan. 1, 2006, "Our
choices about our diets are choices about our health, and
those choices should be based on the best available scientific
information. This label change means that trans fat can no
longer lurk, hidden, in our food choices," said Mark
B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., commissioner of FDA.
Providing more useful information to consumers who seek a
healthy diet, the FDA claims that the new labels are expected
to reduce the costs of illness and disease for Americans.
An estimated savings of $900 million to $1.8 billion each
year in medical costs, lost productivity and pain and suffering
will result from the new regulation.
Recommended Reading
Six
Deceptive Practices on Food Nutrition Labels that You Need
to Know
The
Health Risks of Processed Foods -- In Just a Few Quick Bites
Sources
The
Dangers of Trans Fat
Recipes
Today -- Uh-oh, Oreos: The Trans Fats Debate
Trans
Fat: The Hidden Dangers