The Skinny on Trans Fats

All too soon, January will be upon us, the ball in New York drops, people celebrate and in the morning a myriad of resolutions are made.As usual, the most popular of all resolutions has to do with health: getting in shape, changing their eating habits, exercise more, etc. The food industry takes full advantage of this and markets to the newest most popular fad. This year will be no exception with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s mandate that all food labels include the amount of trans fats starting in January 2006. One trip to the grocery store will show that “Zero Trans Fats” will be this years’ nutritional buzzword.In the early 1990’s, thanks to Oprah Winfrey, low fat was the way to lose weight, and everyone jumped on the bandwagon. While cutting down on fat (especially saturated fat) is a healthy decision, food manufacturers began creating “low fat” everything, from cookies to microwave dinners. These products sold like low fat hotcakes, yet people still did not lose weight, in fact, they gained extra pounds from the added sugar used to make the product (now stripped of all fat) taste palatable.Let’s talk fatLet’s break down the nutritional label on all food items. You will see “total fat” and underneath it breaks it down even further:

• Saturated fats: These are fats derived from animal and dairy products and some vegetable oils (palm and coconut for example). Saturated fats are the worst of all the fat categories and should be avoided because of their potential to raise LDL (bad cholesterol) levels
• Mono-unsaturated fats: This category of fats includes canola and olive oils. These fats, when replacing saturated fats, can help lower LDL levels. Unfortunately, they are calorie-dense so you may want to limit their use.
• Polyunsaturated fats: These fats have the same properties (including high calorie content!) as mono-unsaturated fats. They include safflower, sunflower, corn and soybean oils.
• Trans fats: This fat is produced by “bubbling” hydrogen into various vegetable oils, a process called “hydrogenation.” This allows the food to keep its shape in the heat (i.e. Oreo cream filling) and of course increase the shelf life of many processed foods. The FDA will not even set a minimum RDA for this type of fat as it shows it to not only raise LDLs but also lower HDLs (good cholesterol).

While food companies are not required to show how many grams of trans fats are in a product until January 2006, there is a way to figure it out from the label. First, look at how many fat grams there are total in one serving of the product. Then look below at the saturated, mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated and add them up. If there is a difference between that number and the total grams of fat, it is most likely the amount of trans fats contained in that product. Another rule of thumb is to look on the ingredient listing on the box. As you know, the ingredients are listed in order of amount contained within the food. If there is any “partially hydrogenated” oil (soybean, vegetable etc.) within the first five ingredients, this product contains a significant amount of trans fats and should be avoided.A wolf in sheep’s clothingSo until January when trans fat content is more visible on nutritional labels, how will one know what food to avoid? The most obvious foods that contain this health risk are processed snack foods like cookies, crackers, fruit pies as well as fast food and vegetable oil spreads. Upon further investigation of the grocery store shelves, other not as obvious foods that contain trans fats are frozen waffles, breakfast cereal, even granola!In conclusionThe use of hydrogenated products by food manufacturers is about financial savings and NOT for any health reasons. Make smart food choices for you and your family by avoiding trans fats completely.For more information, visit www.nlm.nih.gov; www.consumerreports.org; www.mercola.com or call Falcon Physical Therapy at 719-495-3133.