News You Can Use

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-17-2004
News You Can Use
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Thu, 10-28-2004 - 11:14am

Trans Fatty Acids...Friend or Foe?
by Diane E. Black, M.S., R.D.,
Southwest Bariatric Nutrition Center Dietitian



As I scurried to pack my lunch for work, I heard Ann Curry on the Today Show report: "Oreos contain trans fatty acids." I thought to myself, "How could this be?" Nabisco was one of the food giant culprits responsible for changing one of my comfort foods into a BAD FAT.


As a child, I remember pouring myself a large glass of milk and opening a package of Oreo cookies to indulge myself until stuffed. I would twist open the dark cookie and slowly lick the white center clean. On occasion, I would leave my Oreo cookie whole and dip it into my milk until it became soft and mushy, gradually melting in my mouth. Now my comfort food was banished with a label of BAD FAT.


What is this Bad Fat called: Trans Fatty Acid. Trans Fatty Acid (TFA) is unsaturated oil to which the food manufacturers have added hydrogen to make it a solid. This process is often used to make solid margarine out of oils that are normally liquid at room temperature. The problem is that the process produces TFA that is similar to saturated fats (solid at room temperature: butter or lard) but are still chemically distinct. TFA is also found naturally in some animal fats. TFA increases the shelf life of packaged products; provides oils thick enough to put into margarine and is in the majority of baked products, fast foods and processed foods. The premise is that TFA makes all foods safer, which we now know is a fallacy. On a food label, the TFA is listed as "hydrogenated" oil on the ingredient list.


The food industry has been opposed to the addition of TFA to the food label partly due to the flavor that it imparts. The Food and Drug Administration has ruled that trans fat grams will be listed directly below the saturated fat line beginning on January 1, 2006. In the interim, some manufacturers, such as Kraft, have begun to decrease the TFA in several of their products. Last year McDonald's proposed that it would do the same with its french fries, but it has yet to make a change. However, Frito-Lay has already started to list the TFA on its labels and most likely other manufacturers will follow Frito-Lay's lead.


Some of the adverse effects of the TFA reported in humans include:
1. Lowers the good HDL cholesterol in an inverse relationship, such that the higher the intake of TFA the lower the HDL cholesterol in the serum.
2. Increases the "bad" LDL cholesterol in a dose response manner.
3. Raises the atherogenic lipoprotein (a).
4. Increases total serum cholesterol values 20-30 mg%.
5. Increases the blood insulin levels in response to a glucose load, thus increasing the risk for Diabetes Mellitus.
6. Decreases the response of the red blood cell to insulin, therefore having a possible undesirable effect in Diabetes Mellitus.
7. Causes changes in adipose cell size, cell number, lipid class and fatty acid.
8. Affects the immune response by decreasing the B cell reaction and increasing propagation of T cells.


Additional effects of consuming TFA are noted in the literature, but a current Netherlands study published in the March 10th issue of the British medical journal The Lancet, shows that just a 2% increase in TFA intake causes a 25% jump in the risk
of heart disease.


"People at risk for coronary heart disease are advised to reduce their intake of trans saturated fatty acids by selecting foods with no or low content of trans fatty acids," stated Gomen, the author. "Furthermore, this study illustrates that with respect to the trans fatty acid content in foods, food manufacturers can play an important role in the population-based strategies to reduce coronary heart disease risk."






Kerstin

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Fear

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Thu, 10-28-2004 - 11:41am

Thanks Kerstin, I'm a big believer in avoiding trans fats.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Thu, 10-28-2004 - 12:38pm

Thanks for a very informative article Kerstin! It's amazing to really look and see how many foods out there these days have these "bad" fats!!! Almost makes it impossible to shop, lol!


Thanks again ~IG

Happy Halloween!

cl-vi_islandgirl
Getting Fit in Your 30's

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