The Dangers Of Trans Fats And How To Know If You're Eating Them
Gary Ruplinger
Trans fats, or Trans Fatty Acids, are a vegetable-based fat
that is made when vegetable oils are hardened for use in
shortening or margarine. Trans fats are found in baked and
fried foods, such as cookies, fried fish or chicken and donuts,
which are prepared using the hardened vegetable oil.
The problem with eating Trans fats is that it contributes to
clogging of the arteries, increases the presence of low density
lipoprotein (LDL), which is the "bad" cholesterol, reduces the
presence of high density lipoprotein (HDL), "good" cholesterol
and also contributes to other serious health conditions
including heart disease and Type II diabetes.
Food manufacturers use Trans fats instead of healthier oils
because it is less expensive, imparts a better flavor, and
increases the shelf life of the products that contain them.
Up until recently, food manufacturers were not required to list
Trans fats on the product labels. As a result, consumers did not
know how much of the Trans fats the products contained so they
were not able to make healthy decisions.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently enacted a
rule which requires food manufacturers to list the presence of
Trans fats on the nutrition labels. Although the FDA did not
set any limits as to the percentage of Trans fats that are
allowed to be present, they did say that it should be “as low
as possible. These labels first started appearing in 2006.
Experts believe that there are nearly 50,000 products on the
market that contain Trans fatty acids. While the term “Trans
fats” might not specifically appear on the nutrition label, you
will see terms such as shortening and hydrogenated or partially
hydrogenated oil. The closer to the top of the nutrition label
these Trans fats appear, the higher the percentage that are
present.
Sometimes in an effort to eat healthier, we end up digesting
Trans fat without realizing it. Stick margarine is a good
example. Many people switch to margarine to reduce the
quantities of real butter that they consume. Stick margarine,
however, is as close to 100% Trans fat as you’ll find in a food
product. The end result is that we think we are doing our body a
favor by “eating healthy” when, in truth, we are treating it
worse than if we continued eating butter.
Consumer health groups have begun to pressure food
manufacturers to remove Trans fats from their products
altogether. Some have gone so far as to file law suits
demanding that a particular product be removed from the shelves
unless Trans fats are eliminated from the ingredients.
As awareness levels rise, you can expect to see Trans fats all
but disappear from the list of ingredients in any product where
the manufacturer wants to avoid the potential legal problems and
negative publicity of cooking with Trans fats. Food giants Kraft
and Frito Lay, major users of Trans fats, have already publicly
committed to reducing the level of Trans fats in their
products.
About The Author: Gary Ruplinger is a featured writer for
SecretsOfTheHealthy. To learn more about trans fats (and foods
containing them), visit
http://www.secretsofthehealthy.com/dangersoftransfats/ and be
sure to visit our natural health forum -
http://www.secretsofthehealthy.com/forum/
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