The inception and evolution of trans fats

In the early part of the 20^th century we started to import soybeans because they were an inexpensive source of protein.  The protein was extracted from the soybean leaving a huge surplus of soybean oil.  Soybean oil gets rancid very quickly so the food industry found a way to stabilize the liquid oil. They chemically altered unsaturated fat by hydrogenating (adding hydrogen to) the oil creating trans fats.

Everyone thought this was a great idea since:

1) We were consuming “unsaturated” fat instead of butter and lard.

2) It was very economical since it can be produced in a lab avoiding all of the time, effort, and money spent on obtaining it from animals.

3) Convenience was an issue also since margarine, made with hydrogenated soybean oil, could be spread on food as soon as it was removed from the refrigerator because it remained soft even while cold. The new fat (e.g. Crisco) became liquid when heated, which made it even better than lard for frying food.

4) The stability of this new oil solved the problem of oils becoming rancid. Inexpensive, stabile oil allowed the food companies to develop a variety of  economical packaged foods.  A lot of hydrogenated vegetable oils are used in packaged foods.

The production and consumption of trans fats steadily rose through the 20^th century.  In 1994, it was estimated that trans fats caused 20,000 deaths annually in the US from heart disease. What started as a “healthy, unsaturated fat alternative” turned out to be much worse than the saturated fat products we were trying to avoid.

In 2002 the National Academy of Science (NAS) stated that:

1)      “dietary trans fatty acids are more deleterious with respect to coronary heart disease than saturated fatty acids”

2)      “trans fatty acids are not essential and provide no known benefit to human health” whether of animal or plant origin.

The NAS goes on to say that while both saturated and trans fat increase the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, trans fat also lowers levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, thus increasing the risk of coronary artery disease.

Identifying trans fats on product labels should be pretty easy since the U.S. government, in January 2006, required food manufacturers to list them on the Nutrition Facts panel. Consumers now know how much of all three—saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol—are in the foods they choose.

Since food manufacturers had to adhere to the law, they removed most of the trans fat from their products.

Interestingly, trans fats have not disappeared from packaged foods in 2011. A label from a recently purchased box of Saltine Crackers states it has 0 trans fat. However, in the ingredient list there is “partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil,” which is bad fat. Cottonseed oil is inexpensive and naturally high in saturated fats. In this case, it is hydrogenated to further extend its shelf life.

It’s difficult but not impossible to avoid trans fats.  Since we cannot avoid every single gram of bad oil, we can consume omega-3 oil to help reverse the negative effects of bad fats.

After writing the last nutrition blog I decided to elaborate on Omega-3 fatty acids by examining and explaining the various types. What started out as “a few more details” turned into a much more complicated picture on the subject of FATS.  We need to have a general discussion about oil so we can understand why omega-3 oil is so important for our health.

While studying various sources on basic lipid (fat) chemistry and research findings on how various fats affect our tissues and organs, I now understand why so many people are confused about what to eat and what to avoid. There are a lot of different words used interchangeably that describe or label fat.  Most people have made a decision to avoid fat altogether or ignore the subject and eat whatever they choose since “everything is bad for us.”

We don’t always know what kind of fat is good or bad. However, identifying words that tell us how the fat is processed and modified will be very useful in the fat-identifying process.

We cannot avoid fat. We also need fat (saturated fat) for nerve, immune, brain, heart, and lung function. Every part of our body needs various types of fat.

However, our bodies do not need and cannot use trans fat. Trans fat is destructive in every way. Unfortunately, saturated fats (beef, butter, and cheese) have become almost synonymous with trans fat in the minds of most people.

The entire subject of fat horror stories started with the development of hydrogenated oils (trans fats).  A lot of our diseases can be attributed to the excess consumption of processed and inexpensive fast foods, which contain hydrogenated oils almost exclusively.

Trans fats are also linked to an increased incidence of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  As a matter of fact, since trans fats are so destructive, Congress has passed a law forcing food manufacturers to include trans fats on the labels of their products. In 2008 California took it one step further and passed a law that restaurant foods must be free of artificial trans fat.