Trans Fat: Weight Gainer Extraordinaire

I just have one thing to say to everyone.

Trans fats should be called: "Sick fats". They just wreck you up.

How bad trans fats are? Call it the tobacco of the food industry. I tell you, how they reck up your body? They raise LDL cholesterol, much like too much saturated fats can do. They not only reduce HDL function like in high saturated fat amounts, they also reduce overall HDL cholesterol as well.

And here's were the trans fats can harm you in ways saturated fats can't:

Unlike moderate amounts of saturated fats which enhance omega 3 function in your body, Trans fats inhibits omega 3 function, and new research study shows that despite exercise, the effects of omega 3 fatty acids are cancelled by the trans fatty acid intake. Newer research even shows that while walnuts and flax oil cancels the harmful effects of a high saturated fat meal, trans fats actually goes around the omega 3 fat's protection and danages the arteries, and it's far worse than what saturated fats do.

Trans fats continues to damage your arteries several days later while saturated fats only do the damage short term, though, moderate amounts of saturated fats do little if any harm.

Moderate amounts of saturated fats helps you to better absorb vitamins A and D, while trans fats blocks vitamin absorption.

Another words, those who thought vegetarian is the way towards a healthy life, well, I think for now, it's the trans fatty cookies, pasteries, fried foods, and processed foods, not meat, that's giving us most of the heart attacks today.

But Not ALL trans fats are bad for you. The naturally occuring trans fats found in meat and dairy products are basically good trans fats as they actually promote some benefits. However, hydrogenated oils are what trans fats I am talking here.

And get this slogen:
"Trans fat content must be expressed as grams per serving to the nearest 0.5-gram increment below 5 grams and to the nearest gram above 5 grams. If a serving contains less than 0.5 gram, the content, when declared, must be expressed as "0 g.""

What a joke. I think I have my own slogan to say:

"Trans fat content must be expressed with a clear warning on any boxes or food packaging containing any hydrogenated, fully hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated oils in this box. Consumption of these products in any amounts, even in the smallest amounts can be very hazardous to your health."

In other words, they don't have to put trans fats on the fats labels. All they need to do is to put a red warning banner on the front of the package if it contains "ANY" amounts of hydrogenated oils, no matter where on the ingredients list is says so. These fats are so bad, view it like it's asbestos and stay clear of it like it's made from Kim Jong Ill.

On the subject of McDonald's salads, the last time I went there I ordered a Fruit and Walnut salad. However, something was very different about it.

It was smaller. 'Snack size' it said on the package.

I guess it wasn't a big seller like their more fattening menu selections. Did McDonald's downsize their other salads?

If I am stuck somewhere when travelling and fast food is really the only choice (small towns), the McDonald's Asian Chicken salad isn't too terribly bad and quite tasty. I usually get it with "grilled" chicken, which usually adds another couple of grams of fat. It isn't a perfect solution, but it's better than a Big Mac and Fries. (Luckily, I have always hated fries to the amazement of my friends. heh.) But what kills me is the amount of sodium in those "grilled" chicken breasts. Oy.

"I usually get it with "grilled" chicken, which usually adds another couple of grams of fat."

Actually the grilled chicken is a much better choice, has less fat and fewer calories, than the crispy chicken with the breading on it.

After watching "Supersize Me", I'll never eat at McDonald's again. I think most people know the fries aren't good for them, but they like them and just ignore all warnings. Since they are such a popular item, I don't expect McDonald's to stop selling them.

"You can't blame McDonald's or any other fast food outlet on your weight problems."

Hmm.... when did you first here about the dangers on these vegetable oils becoming trans?

I would say it's been only in the last 2 years.

Who are we to blame?

Imagine if McDonalds had kept the saturated beef tallow. We would have a whole lot less problems.

I blame the idiots who decided Saturated Fats were bad - WITHOUT AN OUNCE OF CONCLUSIVE PROOF!

Proof doesn't exist today, but these fools are still spouting it!

Can someone explain what Transfats are here? I check the back of labels all the time and we only seem to list fat & sat.fat. (I'm in the UK) Are we talking hydrogenated vegetable oil? Ta.

Sandy - saw the movie, and I am in total agreement with you. MacDonalds is horrible food, yes, but it's our own choice whether to eat there or not. I personally loved a kid's meal when I was younger. But now, I'm educated, and I haven't eaten there in about 10 years. I don't plan on ever eating there again. If other people choose too, then so be it. I think MacDonalds should educate about what's in there food - but they aren't responsible for the poeple that choose to eat there.

And, why in the world are we allowing the FDA to let the industry label .5 grams per serving as having none at all? This should be changed. I don't eat anything with partially hydro. oils in it, but, some people don't understand that and think they are eating "trans-fat free" when they really aren't. As consumers, we should NOT allow this.

The same for "calorie-free" foods, or "fat-free" foods. If you use more than the one spray serving on Parkay Spray butter - you are consuming calories AND fat. Who only uses one spray? Lets be honest with people here.

I'd eat McDonald's fries if they still fried them in tallow. I much prefer tallow, butter, and cream as fat sources to vegetable, corn, and canola oil. I don't actually know where to get tallow around here, but I do liberally use butter as part of my fat-loss diet.

Elaine--trans fats are fats that have been artificially modified by the addition of extra hydrogen to them so they stay solid at room temperature. Watch for "partially hydrogenated"/"hydrogenated" oils/fats/etc. on the label and avoid them. Unlike naturally occuring saturated fats, trans fats aren't structurally quite the same because of their manmade nature, so they have a higher tendency to clog arteries.

@Elaine - in the UK it is not mandatory to label trans fats. There's a great piece here about it.

@lowcarbdave: I just remembered that McDonald's did not accurately disclose their use of trans fats - and had to paid a hefty settlement for doing so. (Feb 2005).

Something else that you can look for, Elaine: here in Brazil before it was mandatory to list trans fats, manufacturers stopped using "hydrogenated" so people wouldn't notice there were trans fats. So what they'd do is list "vegetable fat" as opposed to "vegetable oil". I'm not sure they do the same there, but they might.

Thanks for clearing that up! V.informative piece Jim. Ta.

I also watched "Super Size Me" and haven't eaten any thing from a fast food restraunt since...ecept this summer when we went on holiday but even then i got a side salad from wendy's and had it with no dressing. That movie terrified me!!!

I'm wondering why McD's fries have 8 grams trans fats in them. I work for one of the companies that produces fries for McD's and when we make them, they have 0 grams trans fats. Why doesn't McD's just change the oil they use for frying? Seems like that would help their publicity.

I agree 100%. I'm always around people that feel that the salads and such are such a healthy alternative. Then they throw down two packets of dressing, and in the end have a 600 Cal meal with plenty of saturated & trans fat.

I ate at McD's yesterday. When I ordered, I asked if I could substitute a package of "Apple Dippers" or a side salad (some McD's still have them) for the fries in a combo meal. To my surprise, the answer was yes! I happily ordered the apples to go with my grilled chicken sandwich. Again, not the best solution, but it's an option.

The issue with trans fats and outlets like McDonalds is (I believe) all about taste. We like the taste of fries with hydrogenated fats. This poses a real challenge to manufacturers to come up with something that replicates the taste and "in-the-mouth" feeling.

Of course they should have thought about that when they started concocting the stuff.

Personally, I think McD's fries are terrible. Are they even made from real potatoes? The only reason people eat them is because they are loaded with sodium which covers up their actual taste. Wouldn't you rather have real potato fries, made fresh - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside? C'mon people, this fast food stuff is not good; it might be addictive, but it doesn't actually taste *good*!

Mary's got a point. Real potato fries just can't be topped. As for McD's fries... who knows. Yeah, they're made of potatoes, but the oils they're fried in totally kill them.

At my university, we had one place that actually had bags of potatoes shipped in and they'd slice them up daily for fries. You would sometimes see them going at it. They were good, really good. Even though I know my stomach would reject them now that I'm eating better, they still make me hungry thinking about them. They are what McD's could only hope to be.

Ah, but if seasoned and cooked right, one could still have their fries. True... it won't be McD's, but is that a bad thing? :P

At home I actually make fries in the oven (I guess they're technically not fries then:) Just slice them into thin strips, toss with olive oil and s&p, and bake them in the oven. Sweet potatoes are especially good this way! Much much better than any fast food.

Mary, I make those sweet potato "fries" too. And cassava "fries". For potatoes, since I can only get new potatoes here and the oven fries don't turn out well, I found this microwave chip maker where you just place the slices in and then microwave on high. They come out like potato chips and are totally fat free.

Oh, and I just had some news update reguarding Trans fats:

A Study has conducted that now, a meal that contained less than 1 gram of trans fats from hydrogenated oils has caused damage to the arteries. Two studies, similer to the "cheesecake" meal were conducted, and got this out. One cheesecake was made from 75% soybean and 25% coconut oil, and the other one: 85% soybeam, 13% coconut oil, and 2% partially hydrogenated soybeam oil. It is found that after these meals, the one with the 25% saturated oils decreased eleaticity of the arteries by only 1%, but after a day, arteries healed. Hoerver, on the second meal, the one were more percentage of it were soybeam oil (unprocessed), the saturated part contain coconut oil (the 13 percent), and the two percent partially hydrogenated oil, and we found that the second meal, which contained less saturated fat, but added 2 percent trans fat, showed more sugnificient damage to the arteries, and unlike the 25% saturated counterpart, this meal did more damage to the arteries, and the trans fat content actually lingered in the arteries, and was actually still in the process of doing damage to the arteries.

Just another example of why even small amounts of hydrogenated oils can cause sugnificient damage to your arteries.

Now that tomarrow is Halloween, you need to check your kid's candy. Many of the "fun size" candy can show the ingredients. Before your child eats that candy, you need to inspect them and look for the words "hydrogenated" on them. If it does contain this fat, you need to toss the candy away. Only allow candy that does not contain hydrogenated oils to be eaten, and in moderation. If you let these hostess cupcakes sit out on the counter and it does not go bad, do NOT eat it. Trans fats are esbestos of the 21st century, because like esbestos, it lingers in your body for years, damaging your arteries and your organs. Sure it sugnificiently gives the food a long shelf life, but when it is in your body, it's a whole diffenet story. Trans fats are just liquid plastic. Period.

I was doing some investigating on the web and discovered that New York City is looking to require all restaurants to eliminate the use of parially hydrogenated oil. Some of the criticism of this was that people should be able to choose what they eat and that government shouldn't get involved. But, I'm thinking that partially hydrogenated oil is a product that never should have been added to our food supply. Isn't it just a mistake we made; something that should be reversed? Just like asbestos, I think it is something that should not be used anymore based on all the new research we have.
You might want to check out this website: www.bantransfat.com

Mary, I agree with you, and it is not like not allowing people to use hydrogenated fats would make them unable to make certain foods. Croissants and pastries were made for years with butter, why can't they be again?

Fat free, calorie free Parkay spray... oh yeah...

I could NOT figure out why I simply could not lose hardly even a pound, even though I was working out HARD (two bootcamps) and monitoring calories (not more than 1200 a day) for a couple of years!

Well.... I was also literally taking the top off the "fat and calorie free butter" spray and pouring it on all my carefully steamed veggies, whole grain, low fat waffles, and plain potatoes. I even carried it in my purse! I was so PISSED when I found out that a bottle of that stuff is 90 fat grams, and around 950 calories! I was going through 2 bottles a week, and working out and getting fat and unhealthy.

Those people make me sick.

Also... if you are reading this and can't figure out why you can't lose weight, especially around the belly, but really EVERYWHERE... then cut out all coffee. Even decaf. It will raise insulllin levels and cortisol levels which both cause you to hold onto fat.

Drink as much decaf green tea as you can pour down your throat. That will raise your metabilic rate.

Good luck.

arghhh, not my coffeeeee!! =o)

Due to the smoking police, I am now smoke free. I eat a low fat diet so I'm not fat. Gee, I'm well on my way to perfection here. I say we go after body oder next.

As a representative of the Association for Dressings & Sauces, I am happy to comment on your post relating to trans fat.

Trans fats are rarely found in salad dressings, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concurs. Liquid vegetable oils that are not partially hydrogenated are a primary ingredient in salad dressings. Other ingredients used in salad dressings contain only miniscule, if any, amounts of trans fat. However, some media continues to characterize salad dressings as a source of trans fat and attributes this information to the FDA, which is untrue. The Food and Drug Administration has publicly acknowledged that its earlier characterization of salad dressings as a substantial source of trans fat was inaccurate and has informed ADS of this fact and also made several corrections to its Web site to inform consumers that salad dressings are not a source of trans fat. Visit the following link to see how FDA is changing the information. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/2003/503_word.html

On another positive note, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and Louisiana State University published a study in the September 2006 Journal of the American Dietetic Association that found that those who eat salads, raw vegetables and salad dressing have considerably higher levels of vitamins C, E, B6 and folic acid, all key nutrients in promoting a healthy immune system. Researchers from Iowa State University and Ohio State University published a study in the August 2004 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that showed eating salad vegetables with some added fat, such as full-fat salad dressings, promotes the absorption of lycopene, alpha- and beta-carotenes, all of which aid in the fight against cancer and heart disease. Some salad dressings also contain alpha-linolenic acid, an essential fatty acid that may protect against fatal heart attacks, and Vitamin E, which has been shown to be beneficial for the heart health of women.

Visit me anytime to talk trans fat or condiments!

Type 2 Diabetic here.. of one year. After one year of living a ridiculously low carb lifestyle I found out that... surprise.. i now have NORMAL lipid levels and have just about normalized my blood sugars.

3+ eggs a day.. all the bacon i want and sausages. I have to keep the protein down as well.. so fat is GREAT..

keep the fries.. give me the beef tallow!