Trans fat: The hidden hazard?
Nutritional experts are putting out the alert about trans fats, warning that the food substance could be more dangerous than the saturated fat in meat and cream. But ask most Canadians what trans fat is, and few will be able to tell you. And that ignorance may be seriously harming our health over time.
Trans fat lurks in many foods but it's not always easy to detect. The problem is that the substance isn't yet listed on most food labels. And with Canadians considered to be among the world's leading consumers of trans fats, many of us are unwittingly endangering our health.
Trans fats occur naturally in beef and dairy but in miniscule amounts. It is industrially-produced trans that worries health experts. Those trans fats are formed when liquid vegetable oil is hydrogenated. Essentially, the chemical process of hydrogenation turns a healthy vegetable oil into an unhealthy one. The problem is our bodies don't know what to do with the man-made fats that many experts say are playing havoc with our health.
For food manufacturers, hydrogenated vegetable oils are ideal: They're cheap and they extend a product's shelf life compared to foods made with pure vegetable oils and animal fats. But what may good for the bottom line isn't always as good for your health.
Studies have shown that trans fat raises your LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowers your HDL (good cholesterol) levels. Studies have also linked a diet high in trans fat to North America's Number 1 killer heart disease and possibly adult onset diabetes and even Alzheimer's.
"These fatty acids will build up in different tissues in the body, all the way from the liver and the kidney to the brain and to the heart and in the circulation," explains Prof. Bruce Holub of the University of Guelph.
Most of the trans fat in our diet comes from stick and tub margarine, commercial baked goods such as crackers and cookies, snack foods and fried restaurant foods. Restaurants across the country -- and not just fast food outlets -- use hydrogenated oils in their breaded seafood, chicken and meats, and prepared doughs used in desserts.
The vice-president of the Danish Nutrition Council says the naturally occurring trans from meat and dairy products is much lower than industrially-produced trans. In fact, says Dr. Steen Stender, "one would have to eat several hundreds of kilos of meat or drink 200 of liters of milk to ingest what some industrially-produced trans foods can provide within just one meal."
A Health Canada document from 1998 shows Canadians eat between 8 and 39 grams of trans fat a day -- far above what's consumed in other countries. And Canadians have more trans stored in their body fat than people tested in 11 other nations.
Faced with new nutrition labelling laws, some food makers are starting to list trans fat. In two years, laws will mandate labelling. But until then, you'll have to look for its other names.
"If you see the term vegetable shortening, or partially or fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, that's a tip-off that you've identified a product high in trans," says Holub.
Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health says the amounts of trans fat we're consuming is a recipe for a health disaster.
"We know that people who consume high amounts of trans fats in a diet, the arteries become more rigid and that has been related to the risk of cardiovascular disease particularly heart disease," he says.
Saturated or animal fats used to be considered one of our worst food foes. Now scientists say trans fats are at least twice as bad for our health.
"If the trans fat in the U.S. diet were replaced by natural unsaturated fat, that were there before partial hydrogenation, that would reduce the rate of diabetes by about 40 per cent," Willett says.
If all that weren't enough, a new study in the Journal of Nutrition and Cancer suggests there may be a link between trans fat and colon cancer.
Willett says the bottom line is: "trans fats have no place in a healthy diet."
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Chart with estimates of trans fat content of five popular take out foods
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Chart on 14 randomly selected foods popular with children and teens.
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Answers to your questions and tips on how you can avoid trans fat.
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What exactly is hydrogenated fat? An explanation here.
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CTV News contacted some food companies to ask them their position on trans fat
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Avis Favaro on the fight to ban the use of trans fats in processed food
Avis Favaro on the move to get restaurants to reveal trans fat content in meals
Avis Favaro reports Trans fat isn't listed on any restaurant or takeout menu -- but it's there
Medical specialist Avis Favaro looks at healthy alternatives consumers can use to replace trans fat
Avis Favaro finds children under age two may be most vulnerable to trans fat
Avis Favaro looks at the pros and cons of labelling for trans fat ingredients in foods
Avis Favaro with results of trans fat food tests
Avis Favaro explains how trans fats may be playing havoc with our health
Jennifer Tryon on new rules for labelling of trans fats
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