Hydrogenated vegetable oil

caff

Should it be banned?

http://www.tfx.org.uk/

This site is very anit-trans fats. I would just like to hear if there is an arguement for them. Is it all just sensationalism or are they bad for us and shoudl they be banned?


what are they?

Trans fats are unsaturated oils or fats whose 3-d molecular structure has been alterered, usually by prolonged exposure to high temperature. This happens mainly during hydrogenation: the industrial process that hardens liquid vegetable oils by making them more saturated. Unsaturated oils normally occur in nature in the cis configuration, but during hydrogenation the oils can 'flip' into the unnatural and damaging trans configuration - hence the name 'trans fat'.

Small amounts of natural trans fat also occur in meat and butter, but (contrary to food industry claims) there is no evidence that these are harmful like the synthetic trans fats made from vegetable oil, in the quantities in which they occur. Indeed the naturally-occuring Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLA), which occur in the trans configuration, are beneficial to health.

Claims against them

Specifically, dietary trans fats

* raise LDL (Low-Density Lipo-proteins, known as "bad" cholesterol) and lower HDL (High-Density Lipo-proteins, known as "good" cholesterol) levels.
* promote the formation of arterial plaque, leading to circulation problems, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke;
* predispose to cancer, multiple scelerosis, diverticulisis and obesity.
* decrease the response of human cells to insulin, a factor in both adult-onset (type 2) diabetes and obesity. See here for more information.
* when consumed by pregnant women, introduce themselves into the tissues of unborn babies and reduce their birth weight.
* when consumed by breast-feeding mothers, enter into mothers milk, reducing cream levels and the amount of essential fatty acids.
* assimilate into cell membranes to levels as high 20 percent, weakening their structure and protective function.
* weaken the immune system, increasing susceptibtibility to infections.
* inhibit the action of enzymes that destroy toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.
* block the beneficial action of the essential Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
* reduce the elasticity of blood vessels.
* promote the onset of Alzheimer's disease and accelerate mental decline among elderly people.
* may produce severe allergic and other reactions, with reports of strong hayfever symptoms and yeast infections.

anyone here know more about this, able to debate the issue?

gerrycollins

my personal understanding that
trans fats are not labled on food stuffs but come under the heading of saturated fats which are sub heading to fat levels of a food because some fats are good and we need them daily
saturated fats are what leads to weight gain and all its problems
weight watchers advise their members and calculate the "points" system using the saturated fats leves in foods and calories in the food, which results in the points that a food has, the higher the saturated fats the higher the points vs. higher calories necessarly do not mean higher points

as a result of this i personally lose 4 stone in a year using the weight watcher programme and have many others have done similarly there is a bloke in the southside that lost 21st (how bad is that now)

so my personal conclusion is that high calories are bad(we know that already) but that saturated fats are a big factor in weight gain and its respective problems
this statement is by no means an advertisement for weight watchers but an experience i have via the weight watchers programme and the edcuation i recieved while attending class

rsynnott

Should they be banned?! In a society where people are at liberty to eat and smoke themselves to death, and do so quite often, banning trans fats would be mildly eccentric.

gerrycollins

rsynnott wrote:

Should they be banned?! In a society where people are at liberty to eat and smoke themselves to death, and do so quite often, banning trans fats would be mildly eccentric.

i agree wholeheartly even to the point of my weight loss that i also smoke (well we can be all good can we) its a choice thing and people who are concerned should steer away as best as possible and those who couldnt care less well so be it but the problem is that they are not labeled on food stuffs so we dont know if we are taking them or not

rsynnott

gerrycollins wrote:

i agree wholeheartly even to the point of my weight loss that i also smoke (well we can be all good can we) its a choice thing and people who are concerned should steer away as best as possible and those who couldnt care less well so be it but the problem is that they are not labeled on food stuffs so we dont know if we are taking them or not

There are a quite astonishing number of unlabelled carcinogens in your cigarettes.

And the secret to weight loss is, when it comes down to it, to eat less food...

gerrycollins

rsynnott wrote:

There are a quite astonishing number of unlabelled carcinogens in your cigarettes.

And the secret to weight loss is, when it comes down to it, to eat less food...

exactly the food labeling is crap and OT actually i ate more on the weight loss programme so eat less is not realistic its eat less of the bad more of the good