Trans Fat Facts

Let us have a look at the history of trans fat in order to know what is trans fat, to begin with. Back in the time of the 1800s in Europe, the working class wasn't able to afford animal products like meat and butter. And it being impossible to cook without butter, Napoleon III offered a prize to any scientist who would come up with its replacement for the navy and working-class. A French chemist, Hippolyte Mège-Mourièsm, came up with a substance called oleomargarine made out of animal fat, which later came to be called by the name as well all know it - margarine. In U.S., however, it was not quite accepted back then.

French chemist, Paul Sabatier, in the late 1890s developed the chemistry of hydrogenation of vapors for industries that would eventuate to the food industries using it for making trans fat. It happened in 1901, after German chemist Wilhelm Normann heard of Sabatier's article on the possibility with vapourizable organic compounds to bind catalytic hydrogen to fluid tar oils. He converted oleic acid (found in abundance in animal fat) into stearic acid by using catalytic hydrogen with dispersed nickel. In this way, saturated fat was capable of being hardened.

In 1900s, U.S. had a lot of soybeans imported to it for their protein. What to do with the by-product soybean oil was an issue that was solved by beginning to hydrogenate the oil as there wasn't enough butterfat for consumers then.

In 1909, the US company Procter and Gamble acquired the rights to this patent. The hydrogenated shortening, Crisco, came into use. And in 2007, it had to be altered to meet the standard of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which required 'zero grams trans fat per serving' (less than a gram per tablespoon).

Trans Fat Chemistry

Here is a little about trans fat in deference to chemistry. Chemically, trans fat is a lipid molecule that has a double bond. This double bond can exhibit two different kinds of configurations: cis and trans.

In case of trans (elaidic acid), the carbon chain is extended from the two sides, thus rendering it as a straight molecule; whilst in case of cis (oleic acid), the carbon chain extends from the same side of the double bond, making it a bent molecule. Only unsaturated fats can be trans fat and not the saturated, as saturated fats have no double bonds.

The most common fatty acid in our food is a monounsaturated fat omega-9 fatty acid called oleic acid. In the hydrogenation of vegetable oils, oleic acid is converted into a trans form called elaidic acid, forming margarine. Elaidic acid is the one that's widely used in the food industry for food-processing.

In simple words, during the heating process of unsaturated fats, the liquid is extracted either partially or wholly and a hydrogen atom added to it, thus hardening fat and forming what is called trans fat. This makes it almost impossible for any traces of trans fat to oxidize, thus increasing the shelf-life of the foods it is used in.

Natural Trans Fat

There is a trace of natural trans fat found in the vegetable matter in the stomachs of ruminating animals such as cows, goats, sheep, camels, llamas, giraffes and rhinos. Some bacteria partially hydrogenate some of the unsaturated fats in their rumens, producing natural trans fat. Natural trans fat can be found in milk fat, cheese and meat fat.

Bacterial hydrogenation on the other hand, converts oleic acid into vaccenic acid. It is further converted to conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has been known to be an antioxidant with carcinogenic properties. Also, if we don't have enough CLA in our bodies, dietary fat is stored as physical fat in our bodies, instead of being converted into muscle. CLA is found in traces in meat and unprocessed dairy products like milk, yogurt and cheese.

Adverse Effects on Health

Trans fat has absolutely no nutritional value and can actually pose as a threat by even depleting the nutrition that you get from food.

Obesity
Over the years of the evolution of man, he has eaten fats that come naturally, and has enzymes made to break down and digest the same. Industrially made trans fat poses as quite a foreign thing to the digestive system. Our digestive systems don't know what to do with it and this interferes quite a bit with the foods our digestive system knows instinctively how to digest, rendering it sluggish. Thus trans fat just goes on getting stored in our bodies, mainly in the form of visceral fat - one of the unhealthiest places to have fat around as it denotes problems of the liver, heart and other coronary diseases. Trans fat certainly doesn't provide your body with the essential fatty acids. So no matter how much you eat, foods with a lot trans fat don't satisfy your basic bodily needs, making you eat more, thus leading to obesity and other weight issues.

Type II Diabetes
The human digestive system can handle a certain amount of trans fat when it has to. But, nowadays with all the unnaturally processed foods being eaten without giving much thought to what it could possibly be doing to our bodies, trans fat in substantial qunatities are capable of changing the structure of the cell membrane and making them rather sickly and weak. Trans fat covers cells and makes it quite difficult for our bodies to process insulin, thus leading to type II diabetes and related problems.

Liver Dysfunction
Trans fat hampers normal liver function by a cascade of signals, increasing the oxidative stress on it eventuating into inflammation. In mice, it has been found out that when they were fed on a diet high in trans fat, they developed a fatty liver with traces of fibrosis. Fibrosis in later stages can lead to liver diseases and a full-blown liver cirrhosis as well.

Cardiovascular Disease & High Cholesterol
Trans fat is capable of blocking arteries, thus making us highly susceptible to cardiovascular diseases. If you're having a lot of visceral fat, you need to give the boot to food products having trans fat as these, in no way, help you with visceral fat reduction and put further pressure on your heart. They increase LDL and decrease HDL cholesterol levels. They also increase triglycerides that are esters, hardening arteries. Trans fat in your body interferes with the normal functioning of endothelium (a layer of cells lining blood vessels from the inside) in the arteries and this can be held responsible for the onset of a lot of risks of heart disease, including heart attacks.

Cancer
Consumption of foods containing trans fat has been linked to colon cancer. A perfect environment for cancer to grow is high blood sugar levels and low oxygen levels and intake of trans fat doesn't quite fail to provide this after a period of time.

Energy levels
When you eat trans fat, all the culminating stressful effects of it on your body gradually deplete your own energy levels - physical and mental.

Exercising a bit more Caution with Trans Fat

Trans fats are widely found in deep-fried fast food and takeaways, packaged biscuits and crackers, cakes, donuts, pies, energy and nutrition bars, some packaged cereals and plenty other processed foods that you might be eating daily.

Develop a habit of reading the 'Ingredients List' on the package of the products you buy and not just the 'Nutrition Facts'. It has been said that up to 1 percent of your daily intake of fats can be trans fat. A lot of products claim to be 'Trans Fat Free' but if you look at the 'Ingredients List', they do have partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Only when the trans fat content is 0.5g or more is it then listed in the 'Nutrition Facts'. So, if you eat about 10 products daily, happily assuming them to be trans fat free, you might just be scoffing down about 5 grams of trans fat unknowingly. Not a very endearing thought and certainly not something you need!

Large Food Corporations and Countries Waking Up

With all the clamor after realizing what the trans fat facts are, various laws are being introduced in countries in deference to its production and usage in food companies. Large food corporations used trans fat in their products as a way to make profit by increasing the shelf-life of their food. For instance, the Australian McDonald's is said to have begun to take, after all these years, certain steps in order to switch from the (shockingly) high trans fat oil they were using to a new oil (a blend of canola and high oleic sunflower) for their famous fries. The new oil is supposedly cholesterol-free and low in trans fat. They're about to start printing the nutrition facts on their food packages- not too sure if people who eat at McDonald's are actually so bothered, to begin with. But a good way to veer from the way things have been by, hopefully, cutting down on the various dangerous food additives that they've been using.

Knowing the trans fat facts, in March 2003, Denmark became the first country to introduce strict laws regulating the sale of many foods that contained trans fat, followed by Switzerland in April 2008. United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency wanted better labeling for foods. Australia, Canada and the United States too are taking necessary steps to reduce drastically trans fat in the processed foods that are being sold.

A lot of foods that contain high amounts of trans fat are usually stripped off the various nutrients that your body truly needs - such as fiber, vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and others, thus making you tired, fatigued and irritable, weakening your immune system, making you painfully sick and eventually putting a whole load of stress on your medical bills. Avoiding hydrogenated oils and trans fat and switching to organic foods and healthy eating can drastically improve your health and mental functioning, making you emotionally sound. After knowing a bit about trans fat facts, by the end of it, you're the one who's free to make that choice of who you want to cater to - the business of large food corporations or your health; usually, you cannot please both at the same time.