Tag Archives: Trans Fat

“FDA Bans Hydrogenated Trans Fats”

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Updated: 14 Nov 2018, Marc Woodard

In order to understand how unhealthy Trans Fats are it is necessary to first define and relate to them and how this unhealthy fat got into our food in the first place. And why the FDA agrees it’s not fit for human consumption.

Hydrogenated Trans fats were invented in the 1890s. What took the FDA so long to put a ban on the hydrogenation of vegetable oils?And even with a ban does this keep Trans Fats out of our diet?

Much of the hydrogenated Trans Fat story has to do with low product cost and hyper palatable fat that addict consumers to purchase those products repeatedly. Which in turn generates huge profits for the food processing companies. These basic facts explain the longevity of Trans Fats in the marketplace.

The FDA ban of trans fats occurred after decades of studying the effects of it on human health.

“Although saturated fat is the main dietary culprit that raises LDL (Low Density LipoProtein), added Trans Fat and dietary cholesterol also contribute significantly to increased LDL’s [which represent unhealthy blood chemistry and related cause to cardiovascular disease]. Trans fat can often be found in processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as vegetable shortenings, some margarines (especially margarines that are harder), crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, and baked goods (FDA 2017).”

In the past consumers sought low cost, tasty and convenient processed foods and praised the hydrogenation process because of cost and exceptional flavor. But now the FDA agrees with consumer safety advocates – banning this fat completely over the next few years would be best for consumer health and health care industry.

To learn why the FDA is now taking action it is necessary to define Trans Fats, hydrogenation, poly hydrogenated oil and how this man made fat causes disease.

Adding more hydrogen to oil is simply the process of man infusing more hydrogen atoms (hydrogenation) to a vegetable oil(s) mono-poly unsaturated fatty carbon molecule chain. The vegetable oil than becomes a partial or fully hydrogenated (fat saturated) Trans Fat, i.e., Listed on food labels as Partial hydrogenated and/or Trans Fats are the same thing of varying atomic degree. 

But not obvious to most consumers…  through hydrogenation the oil becomes a more solid Trans hard fat that’s very unhealthy for us. That is vegetable oils are artificially hardened to achieve firm convenience soft spreads with long shelf life e.g., margarine, cooking oils and shortening.

To identify Trans Fats in food products, manufacturers list these values on ingredient labels. Note the words Partially Hydrogenated soybean Oil (PHO) on margarine and butter labels below. This is code for Trans Fats. You can find PHO listed as an ingredient in many snack, dessert foods, vegetable oils and even health supplemental products, etc. And when you see 0g Trans Fats on the label, food manufacturers are allowed up to .5grams Trans Fats per serving and can list this value as zero while simultaneously displaying PHO.

The good news for consumers as previously stated, the FDA now requires food manufactures to follow more stringent Trans Fat label laws. For instance if a food product has .5g Trans Fats or more, that value has to be listed on the label (FDA 2017).

This means all Trans Fats in foods must be identified. Even if the words Trans Fat equals 0 grams, the food product is allowed up to .499grams per serving when PHO is listed. Many don’t know Trans Fats are also in organic wholefoods. Ever wonder how they get into animal and vegetable products?

Live stock graze on vegetation which contain a certain amount of poly unsaturated oil in them. Through animal grazing PHO’s (Poly Unsaturated Oil) are digested and some of this oil is stored in saturated fat cells. Hence all products have varying amounts of naturally stored PHO or Trans Fats in them. Just like humans.

Unlike organic dietary fats, hydrogenated Trans fats are not essential to the diet and significantly increase health risk when consuming too many of them.

I know conscientious consumers remove animal fat before eating a steak, or  ladle the fat from broth to reduce fat intake calories. This is easy to do because it is easily seen. However Tran’s fats blend into processed baked and convenience foods and can’t be seen or removed. This is why it’s important to understand where Trans Fats come from and how to identify them in the foods eaten daily. This knowledge becomes even more important if you now suffer from obesity, diabetes or heart disease.

Over consumption of fatty foods in general is bad. But far worse when too many deceptive Trans-fats are mixed into baked goods.

In the past hydrogenation of cooking oils was used excessively by food industries until it was determined Trans fats were worse for you than natural occurring organic fats. Early 2006, companies began removing the Trans fat hydrogenation processes from foods and labeling amounts of Trans Fats as required by the FDA. But as you now know “0” does not mean “0 Trans Fats and theres a connection to organic food PHO chemistry.

In 2015 the “U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized its determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, are not generally recognized as safe or GRAS for use in human food. Food manufacturers will have three years to remove PHOs from products (FDA 2015).”

Even though the FDA recently determined Trans Fats are not safe for humans the end to man-made Trans Fats won’t end until 2017-18… this will not ban all Trans Fats from all foods because of the natural occurring PHO found in livestock and plants. But food manufacturers will be required to continue listing Trans Fats, mono-poly and saturated fat values.

Is this a win for everyone? I guess it depends on individual and company perspective.

For the health conscious consumer and those suffering from obesity, diabetes and other related illness and disease these changes could be of great dietary health benefit. For those on fixed and low incomes it may cost more and limit choice of healthy foods in the marketplace.  For a manufacturer it may increase the cost of doing business. Unfortunately his increase in cost is usually passed onto the consumer.

There will be winners and losers no matter how you look at this thing.

Reference

US Department of Health and Human Resources. FDA Food and Drug Administration (FDA 2015-2017).

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET. 2018 Copyright. All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.org, Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.

Successful Weight Loss Based in Blood Chemistry Fuel

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Eat less processed foods and more whole foods.

Updated 16 December 2016,                    by Marc Woodard

Doctor’s and Dieticians tell us to limit bad fats “saturated (animal products, meat, eggs, etc.) including Trans fats, which also correlates with bad LDL cholesterol and plaque buildup in the arteries.”  Both of these fats are associated with risk for cardiovascular heart disease.  Also diabetics are at great risk for heart attack or stroke.

However, too little saturated fat in the diet replaced by carbohydrates is causing an epidemic of obesity and many secondary health issues.  The more saturated fat in a diet, the less likely men will have an incident of stroke and heart disease in post menstrual women.  There is a balance of dietary fats necessary in the diet to maintain good health for men and women.

It appears saturated fats are necessary in the diet because when animal products are consumed this increases HDL’s (the good cholesterol) when metabolized and  also lowers triglycerides.

High carbohydrate intake appears to be a big part of the health risk issue when out of balance in the diet.  It appears the body chemistry requires a certain amount of saturated fats (not manmade Tran’s fats).  And complete avoidance of animal fats does not seem to be a good ideal as far as the body chemistry is concerned.  Science can not accurately tell us the perfect diet.  But it is overwhelmingly apparent you are better off with a “low carbohydrate diet as opposed from animal product avoidance all together.

One big common denominator we did not have when I was a kid was obesity run amok.   Nor do I remember many fast food chains.  We certainly didn’t have energy and diet drinks like we have today.  The fast and convenient foods of the 70’s I recall was McDonald’s, Dairy Queen and KFC.  There was one artificial sweetener I recall [saccharine], and a few artificial flavorings and preservatives in products.

Everything else seemed pretty natural.  Even the Swanson TV dinners, meat pot pies tasted pretty good back then.  And the other thing I remember as a kid, most of the dinner meals consisted mostly of meat, chicken, fish, potatoes and vegetables and a lot of casseroles made out the same staples.   And almost everyone around us had gardens and canned fruits and vegetables.

In today’s marketplace everything has changed to quicker, cheaper, convenient processed foods with lots of chemical ingredients in them.  Be sure to read “Restaurant Foods Healthy?”  If you haven’t read this article, you really need to.  Many restaurant chains serve processed everything.  “That’s why you can’t quit eating at these food places you’re addicted to the food chemicals!”

Also back then we rarely heard about heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, etc., compared to today.  And to see an obese kid back then was really rare.  Today, I see kids while I’m on my daily walks that appear to have body fat typical to those in of my age (25-45%).  The kids I’m talking about appear to be around 25-60%.   I fear our children will experience an epidemic of illness/disease pain and suffering not seen in of our generation when they reach our age.

Now when I look at food and blood chemical science; including my consumption exercise lifestyle today I note the following.  My habits have not changed much from when I was a kid.  For example, I exercise daily through various activity and still consume mostly a meat, potato, chicken, fish and vegetable diet.  However, I do consume the occasional fast food, or additional carbohydrates when pasta’s, breads, chips, soda craving strikes, but not often.  I also did not consume a lot of deserts as a kid.  I guess that’s why I don’t really crave them.  But when I do eat deserts, I do enjoy them.  Of course, when processed foods are so abundant in our marketplace a little bit is going to get incorporated into the diet.  And this requires awareness, especially if one is experiencing weight loss difficulties.

I attribute my good blood chemistry results to my childhood eating habits.  I eat more organic protein type food sources than carbohydrates.  My blood chemistry reflects a High HDL count (good cholesterol), Low LDL count (bad cholesterol) and low triglycerides (read  “Why you should be concerned about triglycerides“).  My eating habits are still predominately high intake of proteins (40-50%), carbohydrates (20-30%) and fats (~25%).

I know if I cut the carbohydrates in half and increased the proteins my blood chemistry would support lowering my body fat weight over a long period of time.  “I would lose weight slow and safe, not fast like extreme dieting.”  I know this because I’ve experimented with blood chemistry lab results and body weight [used as a baseline] and compared those results later.

I’ve changed my fuel mix and exercise habits based on these results to lose and maintain stable weight.  I also use a weight scale every other day and base my weight loss success on how my clothes fit.  If you’re eating and exercising correctly you’ll lean out safely while losing body fat without breaking your metabolisms regulatory mechanisms.

Exercise is an important component to a successful weight loss.  Regardless of age, this is a fact.  The human body is designed to walk in order to accomplish all tasks necessary in life.  And to quit walking and become a couch potato is the worst habit you could get yourself into.  If I didn’t participate in daily exercise activity it would be more challenging to maintain ideal body weight no matter how I balanced my diet because of age, lifestyle habits and slower metabolism.  Balanced consumption and exercise activity go hand in hand.

Reference

Learn About Triglycerides and Levels

Author:  Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET.  2010 Copyright.  All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Publishing @: www.mirrorathlete.org,  Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.