Honestly... no. Trans fats have been proven bad for us in large quantities, but overall a moderate intake of them is not going to kill you.
Trans Fatty Acids are unsaturated fats with a trans isomer. That’s technical, but suffice to say the body doesn’t like these things a lot and they cause all kinds of mischief when ingested in high quantities.
I suggest people keep junk food to a minimum (say 15-20% max, less is even better) of their daily calories. This includes products high in trans fat to be high on the junk food list. There is truth behind the trans fat haters remarks – the stuff ain’t good for ya, but its not cyanide either.
You may not have known that trans fatty acids occur naturally in foods. There are two basic kinds of trans fats. There are natural (meat and dairy) and industrial sources. There is a bit of evidence that the industrial may be worse for you; which would make sense because usually things that aren’t whole and natural are slightly worse for your body.
The thing is it all comes back to moderation – if you eat a ton of hydrogenated trans fatty acids every day for months and years you’re going to run into some problems. What problems to trans fatty acids cause?
Trans Fatty Problems
Heart disease, diabetes, and Well because it stays in the bloodstream longer than other fats it has a greater chance for clogging arteries. TFA also raises bad LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL (good) cholesterol.
Diabetes seems to be up in the air at this point – one study saying that trans fats do indeed increase risk for type 2 diabetes – the other saying no.
TFA may increase the chances for prostate cancer, and one study found that it increases the risk of breast cancer by 75%. Really this study was showing eating high levels of highly processed foods, and thusly trans fats were to blame. That to me may or may not place the blame on TFA; it could have been another factor from the processed foods.
Obesity seems to be effected in some studies – but again this is due to eating too many calories (as people who eat the majority of their calories from processed foods normally do). I think this one is a moot point.
Depression seems to be increased in individuals who eat a high quantity of trans fats. And fish oil seems to decrease depression in some studies.
The consensus here is don’t run from trans fats like you would a horde of hungry zombies – but don’t pig out on them either. Keep the majority of your food healthy, whole, and nutritious – and the occasional trans fat laden cookie won’t hurt a thing.
Another thing is many restaurants and food production companies seem to be steering away from trans fats. KFC removed the hydrogenated oils from their cooking process; and so have many processed food producers. “No Trans Fats” seems to be appearing on more labels lately – and when you see that it is indeed a good thing.
University of Sydney Australia researchers gave a group of healthy young adults just one piece of carrot cake with a milk shake to wash it down. This high sugar and highly saturated fat feast significantly compromised the participant's health – in two ways.
It interfered with the ability of their arteries to expand for increased blood flow.
It kept HDL (good) cholesterol from doing its job of protecting arteries from inflammation and fatty plaque build-up.
When plaque builds in your body, it clogs blood vessels. Combine this with constricted arteries and you're on the path to heart disease or stroke.
Research leader, Dr. David Celermajer from the Heart Research Institute, believes the message is clear. It's important to limit both sweets and saturated fat intake.
Saturated fat is found mainly in animal products, such as red meat, meat products (sausages and packaged meats), butter, cheese, full-fat milk products, coconut and palm oils, pies, pastries, bakery fats, lard and hard margarines.
Mother Nature
Because our early ancestors were mostly hunters and gatherers, human beings have been eating meat sine the dawn of man. So how come all of a sudden animal products are a problem?
The answer is simple. Wild game and free ranging, grass fed animals, like those eaten by our ancestors, contain only about 2 to 3 percent saturated fat.
Our modern commercially bred and domesticated meat and dairy products have much more fat – 20 to 60 percent saturated fat.
That’s a big fat difference!
As Neil Armstrong said, it's "one giant leap for mankind." But, in this case, the huge increase in saturated fat is an unnatural giant step in the wrong direction.
There’s also reason for serious concern about the processing of unsaturated fats.
Plants, in their natural form, are Mother Nature’s most abundant source of essential fatty acids. But, once again, modern commercial methods cause problems.
Oils are particularly sensitive to the light, heat, bleaching, deodorizing and solvents used in the intense extraction process. So what do you get?
Those clear sweet smelling refined cooking and salad oils at the grocery are mostly void of any good essential fatty acids. And when the hydrogenation process is thrown in too, you also get the dangers of trans fat. The main trans fatty acid sources are:
- 40% bakery products, such as cakes, cookies, pastries, biscuits and crackers
- 22% margarine, lard and other household shortenings
- 20% fatty meat from beef and sheep, plus high fat dairy
- 12% chips and deep fried foods, such as French fries
- 6% commercial salad dressings, candy and breakfast cereals
- Trans fat contributes to heart disease risk by raising LDL (bad) cholesterol.
What are the Recommended Limits?
- Reduce trans fat in your diet to less than 1% of total calories.
- Aim to keep your daily saturated fat calories at 7% or less.
- Use only extra virgin olive oil on salads (it's not highly processed).
- For cooking stick with a little olive oil or very small amounts of butter.
One fat gram equals 9 calories. So, if your total daily calories are 2,000, you should be getting no more than 2 grams of trans fat and 16 grams of saturated fat a day. Adding up your fat grams for one or two days can give you an idea of how you're doing.
Written By: Tom Retterbush
Judith Shaw gives us the real lowdown on trans fats; to find out that there is ZERO recommended intake is just horrifying. I hope this book will be a wake up call to us - we need to stop eating foods that are filled with additives and we need to tell our government that we won't tolerate being poisoned by huge food conglomerates.
Buy Trans Fat: the Hidden Killer in Our Food directly from Amazon, HERE
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