Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Dangers of trans fats are real, and food has more you think

By Sandra Gordon / Health and Fitness News Service

Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

No doubt, you already know to eat certain kinds of fish for their "good" disease-fighting omega-3 fatty acids and to downsize the "bad" artery-clogging saturated fat in your diet by cooking with modest amounts of unsaturated fat like olive and canola oil, switching to skinny lattes and limiting red meat.

But what you may not realize is that you should also be scrutinizing the processed foods you toss into your grocery cart and order on the go. That's because many of those foods -- French fries, microwave popcorn, some breakfast cereals, nondairy creamer, ramen noodles, margarine, baked goods and cake mixes, to name a few -- contain trans fats (aka trans fatty acids or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil), a stealth fat that has dethroned saturated fat as the diet's greatest evil, thanks to recent research.

Indeed, "trans fats are bad news big time," says Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., author of "Know Your Fats" (Bethesda Press, 2000) and a former lipids researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park. In fact, they're so unhealthy that the National Academy of Sciences concluded that "there is no safe level of trans fatty acids and people should eat as little of them as possible while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet." An independent 2003 expert report commissioned by the World Health Organization report also recommended limiting the consumption of saturated and trans fats to reduce the global burden of chronic disease, including heart disease and diabetes.

To help consumers in the United States do just that, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made a ruling requiring food manufacturers to list the amount of trans fats a food contains on the label. For years, they were mysteriously absent, and even foods laden with the fat could be touted as fat-free because of outdated labeling laws. Companies have until 2006 to phase in the label changes.

So what is all the fuss about? Consider this: Like saturated fat, trans fats boost levels of LDL (the "bad" cholesterol). But unlike saturated fat, they don't increase HDLs, the "good" cholesterol that cleanses arteries. Enig suggests that trans fats may also be a carcinogen. "Because trans fats look like saturated fat to the body, they get into a spot where saturated fat should be and destabilize cell membranes to aid the cancer process," Enig says. According to the American Cancer Society, diets high in sugar, red meat, fast food, and trans fatty acids, for example, are associated with an increased risk of colon cancer. Trans fats may be linked to diabetes as well.

Trans fats translated

Trans fats are unsaturated vegetable oils, such as soybean or cottonseed oil, that have been injected with hydrogen, a pressurized gas that changes the liquid oil into a solid and alters its molecular structure to resemble saturated fat. "It's manmade shortening," says Enig. Trans fats aren't natural or essential and provide no known health benefit, unlike saturated fat, which is a natural fat found in all fats, oils and animal products such as meat and dairy, and provides energy and aids the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, among other benefits.

"Their main function since they were introduced into the food supply in the 1950s when convenience foods came into being, is to give food products a creamy consistency or crispy texture," says Enig. Trans fats may also extend the shelf life of a product. And because partially hydrogenated vegetable oils don't become rancid quickly at high temperatures, they're an excellent medium for megabatch, commercial deep-frying, which is why fast-food companies may have the biggest challenge with this issue. "It's difficult to find another fat that's cheap enough that will stand up to the heat of the deep fryer," says Kim Severson, author of "The Trans Fat Solution" (Ten Speed Press, 2003).

Taking out trans

Many U.S. companies, such as Frito-Lay, have already removed the substance from their core brands of chips, pretzels and other snack foods with no discernible taste difference. Frito-Lay's line of Naturals is devoid of it. In light of the FDA ruling, a host of manufacturers have followed suit.

Still, "You can't leave it to the food industry. You need to take personal responsibility for reducing the trans fats in your diet," Severson says. Otherwise, they're apt to sneak into your diet and even a little can be damaging. According to the results of the Nurses' Health Study, replacing only 2 percent of trans fats with unsaturated fats decreases risk of coronary heart disease by 53 percent.

While food manufacturers scramble to possibly replace the trans fats in their products and reveal the amount of trans fats on product labels, there's a lot you can do to eliminate trans fats from your diet. For one, start eyeing product labels -- simply look on a product's Nutrition Facts panel. If trans fats aren't listed (yet), double check the label's ingredients section. If it says partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed or canola oil, it has trans fats. Steer clear, if you can, advises Severson.

Also, hone in on the natural or the organic foods section of your supermarket or shop at natural foods supermarkets. In fact, Severson did just that and found no trans fats in the likely suspects. Still, check the label on natural and organic products just to be sure "partially hydrogenated" isn't listed in the ingredients panel.

In lieu of deep-fried fast foods, opt for quick-fix options from your supermarket, such as roasted chicken, steamed ready-cut veggies from the produce department and a potato zapped in the microwave. They'll be just as speedy but infinitely healthier over the long haul. Also, choose whipped or light butter or trans-free margarine over stick margarine. Natural peanut butter; old-fashioned, stove-top popcorn; steam-processed ramen noodles; trans-free French fries, Tater Tots, chips and crackers (check the label); and homemade baked goods are also a better way to go. Even if you make them with butter, an artery-clogging saturated fat, experts such as Enig still consider them better for you than the commercial stuff made with trans fats.

While you're deleting trans fats from your diet, don't lose sight of saturated fat. "Try to cut back on both fats as much as possible," advises Wahida Karmally, director of nutrition at Columbia University's Irving Center for Clinical Research in New York City. Although saturated fat may not be as bad as trans fats, it's still a major player in raising harmful LDL cholesterol. Moreover, any high-fat diet can pave the way for weight gain, says Karmally, which can increase your risk of a cornucopia of conditions.