The Truth Behind Trans Fats Revealed

There has been heavy media coverage and many health debates lately about the negative health effects of trans fats. Yet there has been no differentiation between healthy and unhealthy trans fats, in fact, you probably didn’t know that there was a health(ier) version. What the news has covered is the artificial trans fats that have been added to fast food and shelf stable foods to improve their textures and increase the lifespan of the foods. These fats are cheap and extend the life of food products, so of course food manufacturers love to use them. These bad trans fat cause weight gain, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Many products have now gone “trans fat free” and some cities have even banned restaurants from serving food with trans fats.

Artificial trans fats are now considered as bad as smoking in terms of your overall health and life expectancy. The increase in heart disease can be traced to the introduction of artificial trans fats into our food supply in the 1950’s.

The FDA now requires food producers to list the grams of trans fat on their nutritional labels along with the overall fat and saturated fat they are already required to display. This big change makes it easier for consumers to cut trans fat from their diets because all they need to do is look at the food labels of a product. Though food manufacturers are being tricky about what exactly constitutes a trans fat so your best bet is to always go with the most natural and least processed foods.

Some clarification is in order for trans fats though. The biggest piece of education needed is the difference between good and bad trans fats. So let’s set the record straight.

The Bad Trans Fats
Bad trans fats that are the artificial ones. Hydrogenated oils are the most common. This includes shortening, margarine, and much of the fat used in junk food and cheap grocery store bakery items. These hydrogenated oils go through extreme processing involving chemical solvents similar to hexane (an element of gasoline), elevated heat, having a metal catalyst added, and being bleached and deodorized. Sounds more like a harsh cleaning solvent than something you would want to eat!

This is another situation where the food manufactures love the cheapness and convenience of this product so much that they have lobbied the FDA harshly in order to let them keep their trans fats or to bend the regulations against them. For example, food manufacturers are allowed to call a food “trans fat free” if one serving contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat.

The health risks are clear but the money potential to corporations is so large that the FDA clearly turns a blind eye to a major health crisis. Thanks to the online advocates who spoke out about the dangers artificial trans fat, the government was forced to listen to the people because the media coverage became so overwhelming.

The Good Trans Fats
There is such a thing as natural trans fats. These are created in the stomachs of animals like cows and goats. The milk and meat made by these animals contains natural trans fats. Some of these trans fats are healthy for you, and are even better if they come from animals that are grass fed.

Though it is best to eat lower on the food chain (think vegetables, whole grains and legumes), quality animal products raised through ethical and healthy methods can be great additions to a healthy diet.