While it may seem obvious that banning trans fats would make foods healthier, I did not think it would be so. I feared that food manufacturers would simply switch to another type of fat that was just as unhealthy as the trans fats. In fact, I have warned many a patient, "If it looks unhealthy, chances are it is unhealthy regardless of what the packaging claims." And while I still stand by that advice, it seems as if some (but not all!) food manufacturers have found a healthier type of fat.
All fats are not equal; different types of fat affect your body differently. Some fats (saturated fats and trans fats, specifically) increase your "bad" cholesterol and increase your risk for heart disease. Other fats (monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats) actually lower cholesterol and decrease the likelihood of heart disease.
Trans fats are the worst types of fats. These fats increase LDL ("bad" cholesterol), increase total cholesterol and lower HDL ("good" cholesterol), causing a particularly increased risk of heart attack and stroke. They are not found in nature, but rather are artificially made in laboratories. Liquid oils are put through a chemical process to make them solid at room temperature. Trans fats greatly increase the shelf life of a product and are extremely inexpensive to produce. They are found in shortening, margarine, and most commercially prepared baked goods. Most fried foods are deep fried in trans fats.
A group from Harvard looked at 83 foods that had been reformulated since 2006, when the government required food labels to list the amount of trans fat in packaged products. At that time, food producers scrambled to find a cheap replacement. The mission was to find a fat that was inexpensive yet still tasted good and had a pleasing texture.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, from Harvard, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest looked at the current fat content of both packaged foods and restaurant offerings. Researchers used information from the FDA databases, nutrition labels, and industry brochures. According to a letter published in a recent New England Journal of Medicine, nearly all of the foods were free or mostly free of trans fat and many companies did not increase their saturated fat content when they cut out the trans fats. 65 percent of supermarket products and 90 percent of restaurant fare contained saturated fat levels that were lower, unchanged or only slightly higher than before.
According to the study, a large order of McDonald's French fries had a favorable makeover. Trans fat dropped from 7 1/4 grams to zero; saturated fat went from five and one-half grams to three and one-half grams. Gorton's Crunchy Golden Fish Sticks also did well. Trans fat went from three grams per serving to zero; saturated fat unchanged at four grams. Entenmann's Rich Frosted Donut, however, is an example of a company removing trans fat without increasing the healthiness of the food. While trans fat dropped from five grams to zero, saturated fat more than doubled from five to 13 grams.
Entenmann's Rich Frosted Donut is just one example. "Just because trans fat is gone from gluttonous foods doesn't mean they're healthy", said Dr. David Heber, who heads the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. "Trans fat or not, a doughnut is still a doughnut. Even Homer Simpson will back me up on that," said Heber, who had no connection with the research.
So it seems as if my advice still holds. Do not eat something without knowing what is in it. Make sure you check nutrition labels and limit your intake of trans fat and saturated fat. And, finally, remember my sage advice: If it looks unhealthy, it probably is unhealthy. Pick something else!
Follow Joanna Dolgoff, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joannadolgoffmd
Michael F. Jacobson: McDonald's Lawsuit: Using Toys to Sell Happy Meals
Trans fat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trans fat: Avoid this cholesterol double whammy - MayoClinic.com
Trans Fats 101 - Feature Story - University of Maryland Medicine
This article provides more facts about fats: http://www.natural-health-guide.com/saturated-fats.html
It's true that trans fats and interesterified fats are the worst, but hydrogenated vegetable oils aren't much better, and that is the primary fat used in most processed foods. To be truly healthy, ditch the processed food and make your own meals from real, whole food.
http://www.natural-health-guide.com
The problem with only looking at trans and sat fats is that it ignores the big problem of omega-6 fats (vegetable oils). These are the bad actors, when eaten to excess. And its very very easy to eat too many omega-6, because they are the predominant fatty acid in seed oils. 80% of corn oil is omega 6. Omega 6 are easily oxidizable, and so consume vitamin E, and they block the beneficial effects of omega 3.
Saturated fats are a better choice than the omega 6 oils, which is what the food industry is replacing the trans fats with.
But anything to get the trans fats out is a step in the right direction.
Or is that oversimplification?
They are mixing an undisclosed portion of fully hydrogenated oil with liquid polyunsaturated oils and calling it “interesterfied oil”. The claim is that fully hydrogenated oil is healthier because there are less trans fats when added to polyunsaturated oil.
The production of these Frankenoils uses a concoction of dangerous and highly toxic industrial materials . The resulting product may be trans-free, but it will still contain chemical residues, hexanes and many dangerous breakdown products full of free radicals.
Then there are the detrimental health effects from these fats. Testing has shown they cause a drop in insulin that can cause blood sugar to rise by an alarming 20 percent, promoting diabetes. For more details, see:
http://www.transfatfree.com/pages/articles/interesterified_fat.htm
http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/556-interesterification.html
http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/interesterified-fat.html
The demonizing of saturated fats is not only old news, but wrong news. For the latest analysis showing no association between the amount of saturated fat consumed and the risk of heart disease, see
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio
In my frame of reference, if one must use oils in cooking (I do not), then saturated fat is the way to go.
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
Coconut oil is 95% saturated. it has been consumed by many cultures in large amounts that have a low incidence of heart disease. Same deal with butter, palm oil, and ghee.These people start to get heart disease when they start using the polyunsaturated oils-soybean, corn, etc.
So, we are plagued with public health policies and initiatives that are no longer required to prove their merit to consumers - we are simply supposed to bear them and "trust" a medical and public health establishment that has repeatedly proven its incompetence and poor judgement. This is no longer science, it is ideology.
Your commentary does not improve the matter
If my child wants a cookie, I'll actually make it from scratch because then I know what the actual ingredients are. Easy enough concept
I have kids and pets. There is always time to cook a healthy meal at home. A simple stir fry literally takes minutes to prepare and cook. Salads are easy and nutritious. Pasta with a homemade marinara can be made in half hour. There are cook books completely dedicated to the person who is pressed for time.
We live in a society that values convenience over quality.
I am more of the quality persuasion.
Staying away from pre-packaged foods is the best, followed closely by reading the labels to avoid that junk.