Twelve Black Code Monkeys

Finally! That is the sentiment a lot of folks who’ve been following this issue have been expressing now that the FDA is going to announce food labeling changes that will list trans fats or trans fatty acids as an individual item.

For those who haven’t heard about this stuff, here’s the deal. Back around 80 or 90 years ago, it was found that one could take an “unsaturated” vegetable oil (like soybean oil), and heat or pressurize it, add some nickel and then pump extra hydrogen atoms into it. What this did was it “saturated” the oil with hydrogen. Why would they want to do this? Well, saturating fats allow them to solidify at higher temperatures. Vegetable oil is far cheaper than animal fat so they wanted to emulate the qualities of butter and lard without the disadvantage of vegetable oil which is liquid unless you cool it to temperatures that would make water freeze.

Naturally saturated fats found in animal meats, dairy, and some tropical oils, have for a while now been scapegoated as a prime cause for heart disease. I believe these may play a roll, but only in combination with a diet that is otherwise unhealthy - high sugar/carb, etc. Without these other elements the saturated fat has no bearing on heart disease risk. However, trans fats are a different story. They are an unnaturally saturated fat. The human body contains both saturated and unsaturated fats not just in our fat cells but in all cells as part of the cellular membrane. Trans fats look enough like naturally saturated fats to the body that it just incorporates them into our cellular membranes. Unfortunately this can have dire effects because of the chemical makeup of trans fats. Not only can these contribute to heart disease risk, but also other diseases such as cancer.

Where are trans fats found? Primarily margerines (the worst is the stick kind), and shortenings like Crisco. But many mass-produced baked products contain them as well since it is a lot cheaper to make something with this stuff than real butter or lard and for the past 20 or 30 years there’s been somewhat of a taboo against using butter or lard due to the hysteria over saturated fats. In addition, many salad dressings or other items that contain oil (even Mayo) can contain them. The only way to tell right now whether an item has trans fats is by looking at the ingredients and seeing the words “partially hydrogenated” in the list. Of course this doesn’t tell you how much there is, but really I feel that any amount is to be avoided if at all possible. Unfortunately due to a loophole in the food labeling guidelines, some products that contain soybean oil may have trans fats without having to denote “partially hydrogenated.”

Hopefully the FDA labeling trans fats will bring greater awareness to the public that these should be avoided. Even without the FDA, we have already been seeing margerines coming out that are labeled as being “trans-fat free.” But baked products that contain them so far have not been subject to such marketing pressure. And due to yet more loopholes, food manufacturers are able to say “zero transfats” even if a food contains .5 grams “per serving” and if one has a few servings, hey you may be consuming a couple of grams of the stuff! Some may believe that trying to get to zero is extreme, and of course .5 grams is better than 5 grams, but the FDA itself has said that no level of trans fats is acceptable. And I for one would rather know whether I’m consuming even .5 grams instead of being told I’m not consuming any when in fact that is untrue.