Trans Fat: Conspiracy OR real health concern?

[TrevorJ]

Real health concern?

Ok, so it is another source of fat--bad fat. It has a higher melting point than saturated fat and is harder to "burn" off. It is often used in "snack" or "junk" foods, which makes consumers of these already non-nutritious foods even more susceptible to obesity and obesity-related disease.

Conspiracy?

Saturated fat kills far more people than Trans fat, but no one is lobbying to banish it from society. Health professionals recommend consuming Saturated fat in moderation, combined with regular exercise, so why can't the same advice hold for consumption of Trans fat? Just because saturated fat is deemed a "natural" type of fat it is being given a get out of jail free card. The alternative to using Trans Fats is more expensive oils or organic alternatives, which jack up prices for consumers in the process. Food companies are spending a ton of money on researching and developing new techniques for longer shelf-life, but who is going to pay for it in the end (with interest!)?

 

[Fingolfin269]

In order for this to be a conspiracy some group of people would need to profit from the banning of trans fat. Who would that be?

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: TrevorJ
... It has a higher melting point than saturated fat and is harder to "burn" off. ...

... Health professionals recommend consuming Saturated fat in moderation, combined with regular exercise, so why can't the same advice hold for consumption of Trans fat? ...

Read your own words once again.

 

[DaShen]

Real health concern, but it has been a health concern for 25-30 years now.

Hydrogenated oils have been aruond for years and dieticians have constantly been warning against them, it has only been brought to light recently because 1) good for press, 2) food conglomerates are already moving to healthier foods so why not "scare" the people and then give a solution and 3) fast food chains are feeling pressure to show they have healthy foods.

Saturated fats are just animals fats, and mono/unsaturated fats are plants oils (for the most part). Both because they are natural are easier for your body to process. Hydrogenated oils (unsaturated cheap plant oils which have been hydrogenated), they taste more like animal fats when converted, are harder to process so they accumulate in the bloodstream easier. Get it?

**EDIT**
Oh BTW, the 0% Transfat labels are a load of crap. Just letting you know. If you check most of those things all they did was use less hydrogenated oils ("partially hydrogenated oils" <check the labels> ). Since partially hydrogented oils aren't really considered transfat, BINGO you have something you can market as healthy even though it is not. The best thing to do is to not eat preprocessed foods or only eat it in moderation.

 

[ElFenix]

Cholesterol ratio: This ratio compares the levels of LDL (so-called "bad" cholesterol) to HDL (so-called "good" cholesterol). Trans fat behaves like saturated fat by raising the level of LDL, but unlike saturated fat it has the additional effect of decreasing levels of HDL. The net increase in LDL/HDL ratio with trans fat is approximately double that due to saturated fat.[24] (Higher ratios are worse.)

The major evidence for the effect of trans fat on CHD comes from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) ? a cohort study that has been following 120,000 female nurses since its inception in 1976. In this study, Hu and colleagues analyzed data from 900 coronary events from the NHS population during 14 years of followup. He determined that a nurse's CHD risk roughly doubled (relative risk of 1.94, CI: 1.43 to 2.61) for each 2% increase in trans fat calories consumed (instead of carbohydrate calories). By contrast, it takes more than a 15% increase in saturated fat calories (instead of carbohydrate calories) to produce a similar increase in risk.

Originally posted by: DaShen
**EDIT**
Oh BTW, the 0% Transfat labels are a load of crap. Just letting you know. If you check most of those things all they did was use less hydrogenated oils ("partially hydrogenated oils" <check the labels> ). Since partially hydrogented oils aren't really considered transfat, BINGO you have something you can market as healthy even though it is not. The best thing to do is to not eat preprocessed foods or only eat it in moderation.

it's actually that the FDA regs that say that anything less than half a gram per serving can be rounded to 0. which is crap. the reg should be like cholesterol or sodium and be labeled in mg.