Trans fats, created through hydrogenation of vegetable oils, have negative effects on cholesterol levels and arterial health, and reduce absorption of essential vitamins. They are found in products like margarine and shortening, and are considered highly unhealthy. Commercial food producers are required to provide trans fat information on nutrition labels.
If it were your job to create the world’s most unhealthy food product, you might do well to double the trans fats, also known as trans fatty acids. The ratings for trans fats include increasing LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, lowering HDL (good) cholesterol levels, increasing the production of arterial plaque, and causing general digestive upset. There are also suggestions that trans fats reduce the absorption rate of essential vitamins and minerals. From a health standpoint, trans fat is often described as a heart attack in a box.
Food-based fats generally fall into three lines: saturated, unsaturated, and trans fats. Generally speaking, saturated fats are found in meats and other foods of animal origin. Saturated fats aren’t especially healthy, but modest amounts can be tolerated by the body. Unsaturated fats occur naturally in vegetable oils and some shellfish. Most unsaturated fats are considered very healthy, as they do not accumulate in the bloodstream and help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels found in saturated fats. The final category, trans fats, has become highly controversial in recent years.
Trans fats share many of the same characteristics as saturated fats, including the negative effect on cholesterol levels and the tendency to clog arteries. However, the base of many trans fat products is vegetable oils, which normally provide healthy unsaturated fats. Trans fats are the result of an artificial process that turns vegetable oil into a more stable form of shortening. Instead of using a saturated fat product like butter, food companies often use trans fat products like Crisco or margarine.
Trans fats are created through a process called hydrogenation. Ordinary vegetable oils are placed in tanks with a reactive metal like cobalt. Hydrogen gas is bubbled through the oil until the entire contents are partially solidified. The resulting product is called partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, since the hydrogenation process stops before the oil is fully saturated with hydrogen. There are a few commercial examples of fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as a form of Crisco shortening intended to replace the less healthy partially hydrogenated variety.
The process for creating trans fats was created at the end of the 20th century and has been a matter of controversy ever since. At first, the public embraced the introduction of consumer-friendly products like margarine and shortening, as they replaced fats that often went rancid and unusable. Warnings against long-term use of margarine and other trans fat products have been ignored or downplayed by the food industry. From a commercial point of view, shortening of trans fats allowed the production of low-cost foods with a longer shelf life.
Recent studies on the long-term effects of trans fats have led medical groups to speak out against the continued use of partially or fully hydrogenated oils and shortenings. As of 2006, commercial food producers are required to provide trans fat information on their nutrition labels, along with saturated and unsaturated fat contents.
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