Taking Aim at Trans Fatty Acids

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By Colette Bouchez (I do believe that's French for mouthy, lol) HealthScoutNews Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 13 (HealthScoutNews) -- Just as most Americans are finally digesting the nutrition labels appearing on all processed foods, the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) sits poised to add another term on the back of your favorite box of cookies or package of lunch meat.

That term is "trans fatty acid." And some time early this year, the FDA is expected to start requiring that manufacturers include these levels along with listings for other types of fat content already mandated on food labels.

"This is a good thing, because it will provide consumers with more information about the foods they are consuming so they can make better food choices," says Cindy Moore, director of nutrition therapy at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

Trans fatty acids or -- "TFAs" -- are a type of saturated fat that occurs naturally in small amounts in foods like beef and dairy products.

But trans fatty acids can also be the end result of a manufacturing process that turns healthy liquid fats -- like vegetable oil -- into unhealthy solid fats needed to produce many foods, particularly baked goods and snacks. As such, they show up in a wide variety of products you commonly eat, often in large amounts.

"If you eat any commercially prepared foods, particularly baked goods, chances are you are getting a fair amount of TFAs in your diet," Moore says.

This matters, she adds, because studies now show that trans fatty acids can increase some specific health risks -- particularly the risk of heart disease.

"The higher your intake of trans fatty acids, the higher your ratio of LDL (bad) cholesterol to HDL (good) cholesterol. And that plays out in terms of the risk for heart disease," Moore says.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

Answers

But it's not only your heart that can suffer. The very latest studies show that high levels of trans fatty acids can also increase your risk of Type II diabetes.

In fact, all things being equal, the negative effects of TFAs on your health are even greater than those of the much-ballyhooed saturated fats -- the traditionally bad, "heart-hurting" fats found in foods like butter and cream.

"All fats are bad, and no high fat foods are good for your health. But if you have to choose between a food high in saturated fats and one high in trans fat, the one high in trans fat would probably be slightly worse for you in terms of your heart health," says New York University nutritionist and dietitian Samantha Heller.

But how much trans fatty acid is considered too much? In an effort to answer this question, the FDA asked the National Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) to study the issue and come up with a number that could make its way onto food labels.

That report, issued last fall, found that no level of trans fatty acids is considered "safe."

Since trans fatty acids are present in so many foods, the institute's report also concluded that eliminating TFAs from your diet would cause such a dramatic change in your eating habits that it could lead to deficiencies of needed nutrients.

The suggested compromise: Strive to keep trans fatty acids as low as possible. And in this respect, the new labels can help.

"If we look for foods that are low in TFAs and low in saturated fats, we are definitely making smarter food choices," says Heller.

Although the TFA regulation is likely to become mandatory sometime in the next few months, it could take up to 15 months before the new labels begin appearing in stores.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003


In the meantime, Moore says you can still make smarter food choices by reducing your intake of any foods that list "partially hydrogenated oils" in their ingredient list.

"Most partially hydrogenated oils are trans fatty acids, and the less we consume of these ingredients, the better off our heart and our health will be," she says.

Currently the FDA-required food labels list total fat content, along with breakdowns for the following types of fat:

* Saturated fats -- found in animal meats, including beef, veal, lamb and pork, as well as poultry, butter, cream, whole milk, and whole cheeses. Plant sources include coconut and palm kernel oil and cocoa butter.

* Polyunsaturated fats (the "good" fat) found in plant oils such as safflower, sesame, sunflower, corn and soybean, as well as nuts and seeds.

* Monounsaturated fats (another "good" fat) found in canola, olive and peanut oil and avocados.

According to the American Heart Association (news - web sites), choosing foods high in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat may help lower your blood cholesterol when used in place of saturated fat.

What To Do

For more information on healthy eating, visit The American Dietetic Association. You can also find specific information on fat content and its dietary effects by visiting the American Heart Association.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003


I was just told of the benifits from using COCONUT Oil

thinking of trying this to see what happens!

Interesting Facts about Coconut

Coconut oil that has been kept at room temperature for a year has been tested, and showed no evidence of rancidity. In animal studies, feeding unprocessed coconut and coconut oils prevented tumor development, both malignant or benign. It lowers cholesterol if it is high and raises it if it is too low. Coconut oil is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal in the originating plant, in our gut and in our blood. Reducing seed oil consumption and using coconut milk or coconut oil as the dietary staple is reversing viral loads in HIV, eliminating all types of herpes virus and reducing or preventing other viral diseases including the yearly 'flus' and measles. The antiviral effect seems to be against lipid-enveloped viruses and is due to the presence of lauric acid in coconut oil. MOre....http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/treat/T22089.html

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003


I had a quick check but could find no names of or links to clinical studies. This statement, "Studies in coconut eating countries have shown a higher metabolic rate in both men and women than in the general US population," means little. People in coconut eating countries walk a lot and work at physically hard jobs, generally speaking! If you can find some study to support the claims made, I'd really like to know what they are because diabetes is one of the diseases coconut oil is claimed to help.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003

Eat less. It's portion size that matters when it comes to losing--or gaining--weight. But our problem is that we just can't resist eating what's on the table.

Face it, there is too much food on our plates. We eat it. We get fat. Portion sizes have ballooned over the past 30 years. It's no coincidence that the supersizing of portions has corresponded to the supersizing of our waistlines.

Being a member of the Clean Plate Club may have won accolades (and dessert!) from Mom when you were a kid, but now it just makes you fat. One of the primary reasons for this country's obesity problem is we don't know how much to eat. Most people don't know what an "appropriate portion" is, according to Barbara J. Rolls, a professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University and author of an article on food portion and consumption that was published in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Here's a really startling fact: Rolls says that we don't even notice if we're given more food than we should eat. We just dig in.

WebMD reports that the Penn State research team wanted to find out if we know how much food is enough and how much is too much. So they cooked up lots of yummy macaroni and cheese and set the lunch table for four days for 51 men and women, some of whom were of normal weight and others of whom were overweight. One group was given a plate that already contained one of four portion sizes that ranged from 500 to 1,000 grams. The second group received an empty plate; each person was allowed to serve himself or herself as much as food as desired. The participants, who dined alone in private cubicles, were told to eat as much or as little as they wanted.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003



After lunch, they were asked the following questions: How much food do you think you ate? Are you full or not? Are you thirsty? Are you nauseated? (No one ever was nauseated--no matter how much was eaten.)

WebMD reports the results: The researchers found that portion size influenced the amount of food that was eaten. The participants consumed more calories when larger portions where served, whether they served themselves or they ate a predetermined portion. No matter what our weight and no matter how restrained we think we are at the table, we have the same response to portion size. We eat it up--no matter how big it is.

Beware eating out! Fast food portion sizes for french fries, hamburgers, and sodas have grown a whopping two to five times larger than their original sizes. The average restaurant cookie is 700% larger than it was 30 years ago! Food is cheap when compared to the cost of restaurant labor. So it makes sense for restaurants to try to keep you as a customer by enticing you with larger portions. However, what appears to be a bargain to the pocketbook is no bargain to the body, New York University's Dr. Lisa R. Young told Reuters. "We need to teach people to recognize more acceptable amounts of food," she said. "If you are a member of the Clean Plate Club, and you cleaned your plate 20 years ago and you clean your plate today, you will be eating twice as much."

The takeaway: We need to learn the size of a proper portion. A good rule of thumb is one portion is no larger than the size of your fist.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2003


Git, I have an older gentleman that posts and emails me alot.. he is taking 1 TB of coconut oil every other day. and taking Glucosomine every day.

in 3 days he said the benefits of the Coconut oil were astounding.. and it took about 3 -4 weeks to realize his news were no longer bothering him.. the coconut is a "good" fat and it is anti viral , anti spasmatic" and a host of other things... plus it jump starts sluggish Thyroids, or regulates over active triodes. I spend al whole day reading on it ...but HE is someone I do know that is on it. so I will give it a try as I want to lose this weight now, especially if I plan on having surgery soon.

(I searched Coconut oil for health and got 8000 hits!)

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2003


I guess it's all those years in the legal field--I'd have to see some properly controlled clinical studies to get into yet another supplement. For instance, there have been legit studies, both here and in western Europe, on glucosamine and it does work.

Btw, the black cohosh seems to be kicking in. The insert says it can take 4-6 weeks to fully affect menopausal symptoms but hot flashes should start diminishing in a week or two. I'm only getting one in the middle of the night now, compared to three or four at first.

Also--didja see where the Queen did the same thing I did just before Dad died? Tore the cartilege in her knee the same way I did, a twist of the knee. She had to have it removed. Well, I think the glucosamine I'm taking might have helped the cartilege to repair itself, or perhaps mine was in an area of good blood supply or something and her tear wasn't. Whatever, I can't imagine having it removed and the knee joint having to grind with no cushion.

Let me know if your friend knows of any studies on the oil and where to find them.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2003


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