As of January 1st 2006, all packaged foods must list trans-fat content on their labels.
This is an important step forward. Avoiding this bastard fat of modern food processing is critical to your good health.
In today’s Health Alert, I’ll tell you what these new label requirements are and how to use them to your best advantage.
What You Should Know About Trans-Fat
Trans-fat is the result of “hydrogenation.” When a hydrogen molecule is added to vegetable oils, it turns them to fatty solids. These fatty solids replace animal fats, allowing food makers to label their products “cholesterol free.”
Industry took away many of the good fats we need – and said they were bad. As a substitute, they gave us man-made fats, which turned out to be dangerous.
Where to find trans-fat:
• Most hardened Margarines and Shortenings
• Salad Dressing and Mayonnaise
• Fried Fast Foods, even those fried in commercial “vegetable oils”
• Corn Snacks and Chips
• French Fries, Fried Chicken or Fish
• Biscuits, Rolls, Breads, Cakes, Cookies, Crackers and Doughnuts
After years of widespread use, numerous studies link trans-fats to heart attacks, strokes and cancer to name just a few of their many problems. They have proven to increase your LDL (bad) cholesterol. What’s worse, they decrease your HDL (good) cholesterol. They also cause inflammation and rob your brain and heart of the real fats you need.
Ironically, doctors recommended these “low-fat” products for years, thinking they were helping their patients. Dr. Walter Willett, Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health had this to say:
“There was a lot of resistance from the scientific community because a lot of people had made their careers telling people to eat margarine [containing trans-fats] instead of butter… When I was a physician in the 1980’s, that’s what I was telling people to do and unfortunately we were often sending them to their graves prematurely.”
How Much Trans-fat is in Your Diet?
Your intake of trans-fats should be, “as low as possible.” Zero is best. Here’s how some of your favorites stack up:
• McDonald’s Deluxe Breakfast, 11 grams
• KFC Original Recipe Chicken Dinner, 7 grams
• McDonald’s Large French Fries, 6 grams
• Doughnut, 5 grams
• Mrs. Smith’s Apple Pie, 4 grams
• Kellogg’s Blueberry Eggo Waffle, 2.11 grams
Notice how fast foods are some of the worst offenders? Who ever imagined that breakfast at McDonald’s could be so dangerous? Fish and chicken aren’t bad on their own. They turn into un-healthy foods when they are fried in hydrogenated vegetable oils.
You can also reverse the effects of trans-fat by making sure you get enough of the good fats your body needs.
Here’s a quick-and-easy checklist:
• Grass-fed Beef
• Fish
• Nuts
• Olive Oil
• Avocados
• Cod Liver Oil
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD