Let's take a little trip back to 1902.
It was a beautiful night. Hydrogen and liquid vegetable oil were off to a great start for their first date! Eventually, things got a little heated...and shabam! they had a little baby know by the name of Trans Fat.
Now, lets fast-forward to 1990. Its the early nineties, and corporate America as adopted the Trans Fat baby and turning it into a fat monster...
1. as a cheap oil it is used to increase the shelf life of many American favorites: popcorn, cookies, crackers.
2. and it adds a delicious flavor to all of our fast foods, because it can be used repeatedly to fry those tasty french fries.
But wait! The FDA has established 2 things.
1. that heart disease is the #1 killer in America
and 2. Trans fats not only increase the levels of unhealthy cholesterol but ALSO decrease the levels of good cholesterol (HDL).
Finally, lets jump to 2006:
The FDA has finally implemented the label requirement for Trans Fats! (Hurrah!)
But unfortunatelly, has neglected to tell Americans that they are allowing companies to claim ZERO TRANS FAT...even when their is a small amount of Trans Fat present.
Moral of the Story?
Hydrogen and liquid vegetable oil were not meant to be together in your diet and maybe start reading the labels a little more closely.
The History of Trans Fats:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/FatsAndOils/Fats101/A-History-of-Trans-Fat_UCM_301463_Article.jsp#.Ty2wY1zeCa8
Trans Fats 101:
http://www.umm.edu/features/transfats.htm
Here is another article I read. Not sure if it's a corporate illusion, but it fits the bill. Seems the fiber hype on most packaging is an attempt to lure people to junk food under the guise of "healthy" because people equate fiber with better colons, or better heart health. Read on (or listen)... http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/13/146706553/is-adding-fiber-to-food-really-good-for-your-health
ReplyDeleteRead one of the linked articles and was wondering if there was a specific reason as the why the hydrogen-oil gives people an increased risk of heart disease. Does the added hydrogen simply cause the trans-fat to latch on to other thing inside our veins? The article uses the word "stiff" to describe what it is in comparison to other fats but that seems rather ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteLiked the part about what types of food normally have trans fats.
Ill be sure to stay away from:
Fast foods - fried chicken, biscuits, fried fish sandwiches, French fries, fried apple or other pie desserts
Donuts, muffins
Crackers
Many cookies
Cake, cake icing, & pie
Microwave popped corn
Canned biscuits
and
International and instant latte coffee beverages.