A hidden danger lurks in nearly every cookie, fry, cracker, cake and salad dressing. Foods with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils listed under their ingredients are hazardous due to the presence of trans fats. Vegetable oils include soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, peanut oil and sunflower seed oil.
A trans fat, or trans fatty acid, is a unsaturated fat with the trans configuration of the double bonds between carbon atoms. Since saturated fatty acids contain the maximum amount of hydrogen, double bonds are unable to form between carbon atoms. Natural unprocessed unsaturated fatty acids usually contain the cis configuration of the double bond. Because of the carbon double bonds, a trans fatty acid is straight, while a cis fatty acid has kinks.
Hydrogenation is responsible for the creation of trans fatty acids. Hydrogenated fats take a longer time to go rancid due to their stability; to increase shelf life and preserve flavor, processed foods tend to contain hydrogenated fats. The food industry creates trans fats in order that regular products that are naturally greasy and oily will not appear to be that way when bought by the consumer.
Furthermore, restaurants thrive on the production of trans fats in order to better advertise their food selection. For example, most appetizers in a restaurant such as Ruby Tuesdays will have anywhere between 11 to 25 grams of calories from fat content.
According to USA Today, hydrogenation involves bubbling hydrogen gas through vegetable oil in the presence of a metal catalyst. When completely finished, hydrogenation converts unsaturated fats to saturated fats through a chemical reaction that adds hydrogen atoms. If only partially completed, though, hydrogenation can create trans double bonds between carbon atoms.
Trans fats have been linked to coronary heart disease through the same mechanism as saturated fats. Both increase the level of low density lipoprotein (LDL), commonly known as bad cholesterol; both lower the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL), the good cholesterol.
A review by the Harvard School of Public Health notes that trans fats have twice the undesirable effects of saturated fats; trans fatty acids, according to the school, cause between 30,000 and 100,000 premature deaths a year from coronary heart disease.
In May of 2003, Stephen Joseph filed a lawsuit against Kraft Foods for their use of trans fats in Oreos. His intent, according to his Web site at http://www.bantransfats.com, was to force Kraft to either stop selling Oreos, or to replace the partially hydrogenated oils in the cookies.
Not all trans fats come from partially hydrogenated oils. For the most part, however, seafood when cooked in restaurants has the highest trans fat content than any other type of meat or poultry.
There are ways to eat healthier to avoid trans fat intake. First consumers have to avoid products such as Cinnabons, which contain about 670 calories and 34 grams of fat, according to the FDA. Deli products, such as subs, are encouraged over foods such as noodles, pizza and other fried foods. If Chinese food cannot be avoided, however, the FDA advises consumers to eat Szechuan chicken, and steamed vegetables as opposed to other options.
Because trans fats are not on the Nutrition Facts label, unlike saturated fats, Joseph argued that consumers were not able to make informed decisions about their diet. The massive publicity surrounding the case forced Kraft to concede and work towards reducing the trans fats in Oreos, as well as raising public awareness on the trans fat issue.
Shortly afterwards, in July, the Food and Drug Administration introduced a new regulation compelling food companies to list trans fats on the Nutrition Facts label. This rule was controversial because manufacturers had been advertising products with trans fats as fat free, or reducing the amount of saturated fats with the usage trans fats, to seem healthier to consumers.
All labels must carry the trans fat information by 2006. The FDA believes that the new labeling requirement will prevent between 250 and 500 deaths a year.
Trans fats haven't been replaceable due to their low expense and aesthetic outcomes. An example of food alteration, trans fats are an example of bioengineering gone wrong.
Biotechnology companies are developing new vegetable oils to reduce the need to hydrogenate. Genetically engineering soybeans or sunflowers might have low levels of saturated fats and linolenic acid, which allows companies to stop hydrogenating oils for their stability.
According to USA Today, these healthier genetically engineered foods might be the key to opening the door for consumer acceptable to bioengineered products.
