UnSymmetrical

Though some trans fats are found naturally (in the milk and body fat of ruminants such as cows and sheep), such as conjugated linoleic acid or CLA, these conjugated systems with trans linkages are not counted as trans fat for the purposes of nutritional regulations and labeling.

Partial hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing trans fats. These benefits for food manufacturers come at a high cost to the consumer's health. Rather than preventing the sale of trans fats, as advocated by consumer advocacy groups, the FDA in the US, as of January 2006, requires that the quantity of trans fat be listed on nutrition labels. These labeling requirements do not apply to restaurants. A benefit of trans fats for food manufacturers is the ability to design trans fat content so that fat will melt at body temperature, but not at room temperature. Partial hydrogenation raises the melting point of the fat, producing a semi-solid material, which is much more desirable than liquid oils for use in baking. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are much less expensive than the fats traditionally favored by bakers, such as butter or lard.

In the US, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, and other processed foods are likely to contain trans fats, as are vegetable shortenings and margarines. Laboratory analysis can determine the amount of fat contained in a product. Outside the US, trans fats have been largely phased out of retail margarines and shortenings. US food manufacturers are now also phasing out trans fats, but at present, most US margarines still have more trans fat than butter. In the 1950s, advocates said that the trans fats of margarine were healthier than the saturated fats of butter, but this has been proven incorrect. One example of the effects of trans fats vs saturated fats came from the "Walter Willett Nurses Study" (Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School). The 14-year of study of 80,082 women who were 34 to 59 years of age concluded that a 2% increase in trans fats increased a woman's risk of heart disease by 93%, while the same study found that a 5% increase in saturated fats increased heart disease risk by 17%

The tragedy of it all is that more than a billion pounds of hydrogenated oils are now consumed annually. Is it any wonder that the world's people are so prone to illness today?

Foods Almost Always Made With Partially Hydrogenated Oils

• Cake mixes, biscuit, pancake and cornbread mixes, frostings
• Cakes, cookies, muffins, pies, donuts
• Crackers
• Peanut butter (except fresh-ground)
• Frozen entrees and meals
• Frozen bakery products, toaster pastries, waffles, pancakes
• Most prepared frozen meats and fish (such as fish sticks)
• French fries
• Whipped toppings
• Margarines, shortening
• Instant mashed potatoes
• Taco shells
• Cocoa mix
• Microwave popcorn

Many Brands of these Foods are Made with Partially Hydrogenated Oils

• Breakfast cereals
• Corn chips, potato chips
• Frozen pizza, frozen burritos, most frozen snack foods
• Low-fat ice creams
• Noodle soup cups
• Bread
• Pasta mixes
• Sauce mixes

The negative affects of trans fatty acids are similar to saturated fat with excessive intake: clogging arteries, increasing cholesterol, and increases in the risk of heart disease. Trans fatty acids also make contributes to obesity in the much same way saturated fats do; trans fatty acids cause you to intake much more fat to get the essential fatty acids which your body needs to survive. You will intake more fats because the body will continue to be hungry until it gets the amount of essential fatty acids it requires. Trans fatty acids are even worse than saturated fats because they also interfere with your body’s ability to process the “good” fats. Trans fatty acids bond to your cell membranes in a way that blocks essential fatty acid uptake into your cells. Armstrong (2001) makes a good analogy with guards on a castle wall:

Picture it like this. The trans fats are now the guards along the watchtower. The essential fatty acids (the support troops) are waiting outside to get into the fort (the cell), so they can be distributed along the watchtower (the cell wall). But the guards won't let them in! So they have to find someplace to stay in town. ... It's not a pretty picture at all, when you realize that the town is your belly, buns, face, and neck.

Side Effects of Trans-Fatty Acids:

• Since trans-fats doesn't occur in nature, our bodies don't know how to deal with it effectively. They act as poisons to crucial cellular reactions.
• The body tries to use them as it would the essential fatty acids, and they wind up in cell membranes and other places they shouldn't be.

Try a healthy alternative such as hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds) which are the only natural food concentrated with all of the required proteins and essential fats. They contain many vitamins and enzymes, and only small insignificant quantities of saturated fats and carbohydrates.

• In recent years, measurements of trans-fats in the membranes of human red blood cells have been as high as 20%, when the figure should be 0%.
  
• The measurements were taken from human red blood cells as they are easy to access. It is safe to assume that most other cell membranes in the body also contain these unnatural fats.
  
• Trans-fatty acids in cell membranes weaken the membrane's protective structure and function.
  
• This alters the normal transport of minerals and other nutrients across the membrane, and allows disease microbes and toxic chemicals to get into the cell more easily.
  
• The result:
  
  
  • sickened, weak cells
    
  • poor organ function
    
  • exhausted immune system
  
  
• Trans-fats can also derail the body's normal mechanisms for eliminating cholesterol. Trans-fats block the normal conversion of cholesterol in the liver and contribute to elevated cholesterol in the blood.
  
• Trans-fats cause an increase in the amount of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).
  
• Trans-fats lower the amount of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) that help protect the cardiovascular system from the adverse effects of the LDLs.
  
• Trans-fats also increase the level of apolipoprotein A, a substance in the blood, which is another risk factor for heart disease.
  
• Trans-fats enhance the body's pro-inflammatory hormones (prostaglandin E2) and inhibit the anti-inflammatory types (prostaglandin E1 and E3)
  
• This undesirable influence exerted by trans-fats on prostaglandin balance may render you more vulnerable to inflammatory conditions that don't want to heal.
  
• Prostaglandin also regulates many metabolic functions.
  
• Tiny amounts can cause significant changes in:
  
  
  • Allergic reactions
    
  • Blood pressure and clotting
    
  • Cholesterol levels
    
  • Hormone activity
    
  • Immune functions
    
  • Inflammatory response

Side Effects of Hydrogenated Fat:

• Residue of toxic metals, usually nickel and aluminum, are left behind in the finished product.
• These metals are used as catalysts in the reaction, but they accumulate in our cells and nervous system where they:
  • Poison enzyme systems
  • Alter cellular functions
  • Endanger our health
  • Cause a wide variety of problems
• These toxic metals are difficult to eliminate without special detoxification techniques.
• Our toxic load increases steadily with small exposures over time. A cumulative dose can add up to dangerous levels over time. For example:
  • Eating hydrogenated fats will not immediately kill us, and so it seems harmless.
  • Our body copes with the toxic substances.
  • But over 10,20, or 30 years, our cells accumulate altered and toxic products for which they have not evolved efficient detoxifying mechanisms.
  • The altered toxic substances interfere with our body's life chemistry.
  • Cells then degenerate, and these degenerative processes manifest as degenerative diseases.

Partially-Hydrogentaed Fat:

• When the process of hydrogenation is not brought to completion, a product containing many (dozens) intermediate substances results.
• Partial hydrogenation produces margarines, shortenings, shortening oils, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
• These products contain large quantities of trans-fatty acids and other altered substances.

How Trans Fat Affect Weight Loss:

• Trans-fat has a detrimental effect on energy, metabolism, fat, and essential fatty acid metabolism.
• Trans-fat increases blood insulin in response to glucose. Trans fat keeps the circulating insulin levels higher for a longer time - eventually contributing to insulin resistance.
• Trans-fat alter the size, number, and fatty acid composition of adipose (fat) cells. Adipose fat cells are found in the butt, hips, back, and belly.

The average consumer uses 4 gallons a year of refined oils, 25-50% of which are trans fat. This means that you are taking into your body 1-2 gallons of an extremely toxic chemical. When observed under a microscope, a hydrogenated fat molecule looks similar to a plastic molecule. Lipid chemists actually talk about plasticizing oils. Ironically, in terms of saturation, there is little difference between hydrogenated oils such as those found in margarine and the animal fats they are meant to replace.

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