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I’m SO angry I could spit nails! I’m angry at myself for just skimming published literature instead of thoroughly investigating the facts, and I’m angry at the Food Industry for hiding ingredients that will kill me. And I’m angry at the Media for playing down information that could kill us, or with education and reform, help us.
This all started this morning with a Google search because I want to learn how to make light and fluffy biscuits without using Crisco or lard, which I know are partially hydrogenated fats and not particularly good for us. What I didn’t know was the extent of trans fats in our foods, nor what they really do to our bodies! I also didn’t know that they are usually hidden in the list of ingredients!
This is the first thing that came up while searching for biscuit recipes without partially hydrogenated fats:
Why are Trans Fats So Bad for You?
Trans fats are such a hidden part of the American diet, people have no idea what is contributing to their illness.
“Forty years after it’s been in the food system on such a large scale, what is becoming clear is that this is dangerous stuff,’’ Challen said.
“[A] defining moment... came when I looked at a box of breakfast bars. Half the fat was saturated fat, but there was NO animal product in the ingredient list,’
“This is in everything.”
—from The Trans Fat Solution
•Trans fat raises the level of bad cholesterol (LDL), which can make arteries inflexible and clogged and lead to strokes and heart attacks.
•Trans fats scrub away the good cholesterol (HDL) that keeps arteries clean.
•Trans fat also raises other bad blood lipids that can contribute to heart disease.
•But trans fat has what researchers are beginning to agree is a more insidious function the body: It actually reprograms how our cells work, causing lifelong damage that can lead to diabetes, stroke and possibly cancer.
•Unlike saturated fats from animals, trans fat aren't broken down by body heat. Its molecular structure is so different, so unnatural, that the body has no way to know exactly how to process it.
•That’s why some doctors, in particular the top nutrition and heart experts at Harvard University, believe trans fat is worse than saturated fat.
•People who eat a lot of trans fat are 50 percent more likely to develop heart disease than people who eat very little.
•The Nurses’ Health Study of 80,000 women also showed that for each 2 percent increase in the amount of calories from trans fat, a woman’s coronary risk will jump by 93 percent.
[HYPERLINK@www.transfatsolution.com]
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There is MUCH more, and I’m sure you will be sick of me listing all this stuff…. but this Forum is about Health, as much as anything.
- Look for the words hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated or fractionated in the list of ingredients. Trans fat comes from hydrogenation. The higher up partially hydrogenated oil is on the list of ingredients, the more trans fat the product has.
- Note the amount of total fat listed and compare it to the breakdown of specific fats on the label. The results may surprise you. A box of reduced-fat Triscuits, for example, has 3 grams of fat per 7-cracker serving. Saturated fats make up 1/2 gram and monounsaturated fats 1 gram. The crackers have no polyunsaturated fats, so the remaining 1 1/2 grams must be the only other kind of dietary fat -- trans fat.
One study, by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, showed that foods with partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list contained 1 gram of hidden trans fat for each gram of saturated fat. That means that Chips Ahoy cookies, for example, with 2 grams of saturated fat per serving also contain 2 additional grams of trans fat.
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