FDA to ban trans fats

[Wreckem]

No expert on transfat but it would be interesting to compare the transfat content in McDonalds USA vs Sweden. For some reason I get very ill if I eat McDonalds in the states but I'm ok over here. Sweden hasn't banned transfat just yet but I think McDonalds has reduced their transfat over here but not in the USA. For all I know there could be other differences though.

McDonalds started reducing trans fats in the US since the early 2000s. They pledged to be transfat free by 2003 but didn't become transfat free until 2007. They were one of the first companies in the us to start phasing out transfat and one of the first to completely phase them out.

 

[Throckmorton]

Transfat has demonstrated problems. Teflon? No, at least not if used as intended. Burning PTFE probably isn't a really good idea though.

"Used as intended" means never heating above boiling point or so. But in the real world, people regularly preheat their pans or even saute food which lets temperature get beyond the point where Teflon breaks down. It's also common to accidentally let a pot boil dry, burning the Teflon. I've done that several times.

 

[Throckmorton]

Unfortunately the corn industry has a slightly more powerful lobby than the lard industry.

Lard is animal fat. That's saturated fat, not trans fat.

 

[Howard]

When teflon was originally introduced, it was approved for use in things like fry bags and hamburger wrappers and stuff in an effort to control the leaking of grease. Later, we discover that teflon can't be removed from the bloodstream and has significant health risks.

Sure, we continue to use teflon in applications that are intended not to mix with food products, but the damage is already done.

What? Why can't Teflon be used in food applications? It's used in food applications all the time, everywhere.

 

[OCGuy]

Yes, more laws are what we need!

 

[Soundmanred]

Trans fats just need to decide what kind of fat they want to be and stop confusing the other fats.

 

[monovillage]

Trans fats just need to decide what kind of fat they want to be and stop confusing the other fats.

+1

 

[1prophet]

Americans are all about cheap. When things are cheap, you can buy more. We focus on quantity rather than quality and companies simply respond to the consumer's desires.

Companies psychologically manipulate people into what to buy using their own selfish desires against them and then claim the consumer wanted it.

Edward Bernays was one who showed them how using his uncle's, Sigmund Freud, research.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterubel/2013/01/03/brain-control-and-consumer-behavior/

Brain Control and Consumer Behavior




I teach a course on consumer irrationality and market failure at the Fuqua School of Business. I open up one of my lectures with a brief video demonstration of what psychologists call “the McGurk effect.” (See an example here.) In the video, a man makes the sound “ba ba ba.” About half of my students invariably identify the sound accurately. But the other half? They swear on their mothers’ graves that he said “fa fa fa.”




Why such strong disagreement? Because that latter half of my class listened to the videos with their eyes wide open, and their eyes told their ears what to hear. You see, the people who made the video spliced in the sound of the man saying “ba, ba, ba” over a video of him saying “fa fa fa.” Confronted with this inconsistent sensory evidence, these students’ brains tried to come up with a coherent picture of the world. As a result, they mistakenly believed the man was saying something he wasn’t saying.


I show this video to my students as a way of illustrating an important point about the way markets work – people who understand the human brain are in a position to manipulate other people. As I show in my book Free Market Madness, such manipulations can influence consumer behavior, causing people to buy what they otherwise wouldn’t buy, eat what they otherwise wouldn’t eat, and spend what they cannot afford to spend. Indeed, an increasing number of companies are employing behavioral scientists to help them sell consumer products.


This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If companies never sold their products, we wouldn’t have a functioning economy. But the influence of behavioral scientists on the marketplace isn’t always a good thing either. It means that free markets – where informed consumers freely decide what products to purchase – may not be as free as we think, because we consumers are influenced in ways outside of our awareness. We sometimes make purchases that go against our best interests, because clever companies have figured out ways to nudge the wallets out of our pockets.


We enter the supermarket with a shopping list, and invariably purchase additional items on impulse, often less healthy foods—in part because the supermarket designers know what foods to place in which locations to spur on such purchases. We pay off the “minimum balance” on our credit cards, unaware that this minimum balance will not come close to helping us pay off our debts in a reasonable time frame—in part, because the credit card companies have studies how we will respond to phrases like “minimum payment.”


There is a lot more I could write about this topic. But in the spirit of brevity, I want to leave you with a simple word of caution:
Your next purchase might not be decided upon as freely as you think

 

[feralkid]

Yes, more laws are what we need!

In some areas of governance, yes we do.

In other areas we need less laws.

The trick is knowing the difference.

Work with it.

 

[Throckmorton]

What? Why can't Teflon be used in food applications? It's used in food applications all the time, everywhere.

It's already been banned... but with a phase out period. I think 2014 is the last year. Now ask yourself why you didn't know that. You want a conspiracy? There's a conspiracy.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

How dare they ban harmful substances with much healthier alternatives from our food supply! Call Dr. Paul, Time for revolt is nigh!

 

[Oyeve]

As long as they leave lard alone I dont care.

 

[dank69]

So Crisco is all done? What is the replacement for that? Lard?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

So Crisco is all done? What is the replacement for that? Lard?

That's one option.

 

[dank69]

That's one option.

Fried chicken will suffer.

 

[Howard]

Fried chicken will suffer.

Nope. There have been advances in chicken frying.

 

[HumblePie]

So what I find funny is looking at the label on the powered coffee creamer in the breakroom this morning. I look at the "columns" of info and see it shows the following:

Trans Fat:...........0
Total Carbs:........0
Sugars:..............0

But then I look at the ingredient list and read the following.

Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Glucose, Dextrose, Maltose......

I think to myself.... hrmmm.

 

[dank69]

So what I find funny is looking at the label on the powered coffee creamer in the breakroom this morning. I look at the "columns" of info and see it shows the following:

Trans Fat:...........0
Total Carbs:........0
Sugars:..............0

But then I look at the ingredient list and read the following.

Hydrogenated soybean oil, Glucose, Dextrose, Maltose......

I think to myself.... hrmmm.

Any amounts less than 0.5g/serving can be rounded down to 0 on the label

 

[dank69]

Nope. There have been advances in chicken frying.

What's better for fried chicken than trans fat?

 

[HumblePie]

Any amounts less than 0.5g/serving can be rounded down to 0 on the label

It's still a bit misleading because the label tries to spout that there is literally Zero. However, that isn't true. There is some. Then you have to look at the serving size and what people actually dump into their coffee. I see people drop 4 table spoons of the shit in there. Then they drink 2-4 cups a day. They do so thinking they aren't putting anything bad into their system because the label said so.

 

[dank69]

It's still a bit misleading because the label tries to spout that there is literally Zero. However, that isn't true. There is some. Then you have to look at the serving size and what people actually dump into their coffee. I see people drop 4 table spoons of the shit in there. Then they drink 2-4 cups a day. They do so thinking they aren't putting anything bad into their system because the label said so.

*shrug* Take it up with the FDA.

 

[Tom]

My first reaction was how dare they regulate a normal, tasty part of food!

Then I read the DT article... oh boy.

So it was developed as a part of the mass production / manufacturing process? Yuck. Might be tasty but !@#$ if it's not a natural part of food and it leads to heart disease...

Glad to be rid of it?

I'm pretty sure partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is a manufactured substitute for butter or lard, both of which are natural foods.

And are probably identical in their harmful trans fat content.

 

[HumblePie]

I'm pretty sure partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is a manufactured substitute for butter or lard, both of which are natural foods.

And are probably identical in their harmful trans fat content.

It is.

Oily fats is liquid at room temps. By pumping the oil with hydrogen, the free carbon bonds in the fatty acids molecules bond with the hydrogen. Making the molecule bigger and firmer. If all "ends" of the molecule bond to the hydrogen atoms, it basically becomes a solid "block" of fat that is basically unusable because it is so solid. This is where the partial comes into play. The oil isn't fully pumped up with hydrogen to make it into a solid lump of fat. It is now mostly solid, basically a gelatin.

I was reading various reason of why that partially hydrogenated oil molecule is "bad" for you. Partly it is because the molecule is bigger and now "Sticky" in a sense. Being sticky means the fat molecule bonds readily to other things. Such as other flavor molecules, which is why the trans fat makes food taste better. As the preparation and cooking process of the food does lose so much flavor. The problem with the stickiness is that the fat bonds with itself. Making the fat molecules bond with each to get bigger and bigger and bigger. Which is what happens when the molecule goes through your blood vessels. The molecule sticks to the side and passing transfat molecules stick to it. Making them clump up and get bigger. Eventually forming a plaque solid. That's the basics of it.

 

[Tom]

It is.

Oily fats is liquid at room temps. By pumping the oil with hydrogen, the free carbon bonds in the fatty acids molecules bond with the hydrogen. Making the molecule bigger and firmer. If all "ends" of the molecule bond to the hydrogen atoms, it basically becomes a solid "block" of fat that is basically unusable because it is so solid. This is where the partial comes into play. The oil isn't fully pumped up with hydrogen to make it into a solid lump of fat. It is now mostly solid, basically a gelatin.

I was reading various reason of why that partially hydrogenated oil molecule is "bad" for you. Partly it is because the molecule is bigger and now "Sticky" in a sense. Being sticky means the fat molecule bonds readily to other things. Such as other flavor molecules, which is why the trans fat makes food taste better. As the preparation and cooking process of the food does lose so much flavor. The problem with the stickiness is that the fat bonds with itself. Making the fat molecules bond with each to get bigger and bigger and bigger. Which is what happens when the molecule goes through your blood vessels. The molecule sticks to the side and passing transfat molecules stick to it. Making them clump up and get bigger. Eventually forming a plaque solid. That's the basics of it.

Suppose we could make the circulatory system last 150 years..

what's the point if the mind is gone at 95 ?

To me that's a problem with banning versus letting people make informed choices.

 

[BUnit1701]

What's better for fried chicken than trans fat?

Lard. Or fatback.