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What So Bad About Trans Fat? It is undeniable that many of the foods we love, including fried foods, cookies and a variety of desserts, really taste yummy. But how many of us are aware of the kinds of health hazards these yummy foods would cause to our body. Why is this so? First of all, these foods are yummy because they have an ingredient called “trans fat”. Many restaurants, fast-food outlets as well as food manufacturers like using trans fats in their foods since they not only give foods a desirable taste and texture, but also help increase shelf-life for foods. Moreover, trans fats are easy to use and inexpensive to produce. In fact, oils with trans fats can be used many times in commercial fryers. Trans fats, or trans fatty acids, are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils so as to make them more solid. That is why trans fat is also called partially hydrogenated oils. While trans fat can benefit food makers in many ways since its use in 1950s, it is really bad for the human body. Many studies have shown that trans fats are responsible for tens of thousands of coronary heart disease each year. Trans fat make ones more likely to have heart disease by raising LDL (low density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol and lowering HDL (high density lipoprotein) or good cholesterol at the same time. As such, people should avoid trans fats as much as possible.
In 2006, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) started requiring food manufacturers to include trans fats on nutritional labels, and in 2007, New York City banned trans fats from restaurants. In the meantime, food makers have been gradually going trans-fat-free in recent years. For instance, McDonald's switched to zero-trans fat cooking oil in its iconic French fries in 2008. A statement released on November 7, 2013 by FDA indicated that the government agency would require food makers to gradually phase out artificial trans fats. Such measure is believed to be able to potentially prevent about 20,000 heart attacks and some 7,000 heart disease related deaths a year. Despite the fact that the amount of trans fats consumed by Americans has declined nearly 75 percent over the last 10 years, they are still an area of significant public health concern. Prevailing FDA regulations allow a food to be labeled trans-fat free if a serving contains less than 0.5 grams per standard serving. Many people consume a few times a serving and might unknowingly take in many more trans fats than they realize. Intake for the average Americans is estimated by the FDA to be 4.7 pounds of trans fats a year (approximately 5.8 grams a day) while the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that people should consume fewer than 2 grams of trans fats a day. Some products that contain trans fats seem obvious but others might not. Most fried food contains trans fats but most restaurants do not tell their customers the amount of trans fats in their food. Certain snacks like microwave popcorn, some crackers and chips that seem healthy to people can actually have trans fats that put the heart at risk. Many frozen desserts do have trans fats, so do many desserts like cookies, doughnuts, muffins, cake mixes and icing. Several cereals containing oats and bran are marketed as healthful, but in reality, they also contain trans fats. Energy bars and even some granola can use trans fats as one of their ingredients, too. According to FDA, the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM) has already concluded that trans fats offer no known health benefit and that there is no safe level of consumption of artificial trans fats. Hence, people should choose as many whole, fresh foods as possible, and read nutritional labels and ingredients list to try to maintain a healthy diet.
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