Trans Fats

When it's on your hips or behind, fat is just plain fat. Let's face it. But when it's on your plate some fats are kinder to your heart than others. Which means some fats are really, really bad for you.

Saturated, trans (or hydrogenated), monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. They sound like a firm of lawyers, don't they? One of them is most definitely best avoided.

Researchers at Harvard carried out a massive research on 90,000 women and 50,000 men. These were Health Professionals - if anyone should have known what's good for you, it should be them, right?

They discovered that a particular fat increases your risk of heart disease so much so that just cutting it out can improve your health significantly. It is, in fact, pretty much a no-no fat. If you can avoid eating it, you'll be doing yourself a big favor.

The research showed that your risk of heart disease is substantially increased if you eat trans fats. These are the fats often found in margarine, fried food and baked goods. Trans fats are made by bubbling hydrogen through oil, which causes it to solidify. It actually makes it more like a plastic!

What the research also showed is that saturated fat, found in red meats and dairy products, also increased your risk of heart disease, but nowhere near as much as trans fats.

The astonishing results went on to show that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats actually had a good effect. They actually seem to offer a slight reduction in the risk of heart disease. Olive oil is the monounsatured fat par excellence and fish is a good source of polyunsaturated fat.

On some of the Greek Islands where olive oil and fish are part of the staple diet the rate of heart disease appears to be lower than other areas, Japan for example, even though the Greeks are eating up to 5 times as much fat.

In 1989 the National Academy of Sciences came to the conclusion that the percentage of calories from fat was not significant when considering the risk of heart disease. They also concluded that they type of fat most certainly was.

The US Food Pyramid has now been revised. For those wanting more information it can be visited online where a personalised recommendation is available. Click here to visit the US Food Pyramid site

Trans fats are so bad for you that the US Government made it mandatory in 2006 for producers to state the quantity of trans fats on the label. And major supermarket chains in the UK are dropping trans fats from their products as fast as they can.

Quoting directly from the mypyramid site, the following is a startling statement

"Most of the fats you eat should be polyunsaturated (PUFA) or monounsaturated (MUFA) fats....some fatty acids that are necessary for health—called “essential fatty acids.”

The MUFAs and PUFAs found in fish, nuts, and vegetable oils do not raise LDL(“bad”) cholesterol levels in the blood."

For the sake of your heart you should check every label carefully. Trans fats are still out there. Just don't take them to heart!

please note that this site is designed for entertainment and information purposes only and does not offer medical advice. you should seek the opinion of your doctor, or medical professional, before starting a diet, or any exercise program. medical knowledge can change rapidly and the information on this site can become out of date so it is important to seek qualified professional advice when undertaking any health program.