Trans fats(hydrogenated oil) are currently being phased out of food in many countries because they clog arteries and increase the risk of heart disease.

Trans-fatty acids or trans-fats are produced by creating artificially hardened fats as in partial hydrogenation processes. They are widely used in processed foods to give food texture, added flavour and a long shelf life.

Scientists at the national scientific research center at the University of Paris in France, discovered the link between trans-fats and breast cancer after carrying out a study of women taking part in a large European cancer trial.

The team found that women with the highest blood levels of trans-fats had about twice the risk of breast cancer compared to women with the lowest levels.

They discovered that the higher the levels of trans-fatty acids, the more likely a woman was to have cancer; these women were in fact twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those with the lowest levels.

Dr. Veronique Chajes says at this stage, they can only recommend limiting the consumption of processed foods, which is the main source of industrially produced trans-fatty acid…read more

In Denmark legislation removing “hydrogenated vegetable oil” from the food chain was introduced in June 2003. Since then, the rate of heart disease among Danes has dropped by a staggering 40 per cent. The only European country to follow suit since then is Switzerland. Britain has no plans to take action, instead being content to leave the industry to get its own house in order.

Clinical researchers have discovered that ingesting just two grams a day of HVO – the amount contained in just one doughnut fried in this type of fat – increases an individual’s risk of heart disease by 23 per cent. This makes HVO much more dangerous to health than the saturated fats such as butter it often replaces. It distorts cholesterol levels, encourages obesity, causes inflammatory conditions, and can even be a cause of infertility.

Yet, despite the dangers, many major UK food producers continue to use it in everyday products. Brands that include it in their manufacture include Cadbury Heroes, some Nestlé and Mars confectionery, Batchelors Cup a Soups and even Haliborange Omega-3 Fish Oil capsules for children.

Hydrogenated vegetable oil, or trans-fat, as it is sometimes called, is also widely used in bakery products, and by restaurants and takeaways, where it usually does not have to be labelled and declared as being present.

“Hydrogenated vegetable oil may look and sound disgusting, but in many ways, it’s a food scientist’s holy grail,” explains the health writer and author Maggie Stanfield, whose recently published book, Trans-Fat: The Time Bomb in Your Food tells the full story of its acceptance by the food industry… read more

Chick-fil-A Removes
Trans Fats from Entire Menu

ATLANTA (Oct. 9, 2008) – Chick-fil-A®, the nation’s second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain, today announced it has eliminated artificial trans fat from its entire menu. Chick-fil-A is among the first national quick-service restaurant chains to offer a complete menu – from entrées down to condiments – with zero grams of trans fat.

Chick-fil-A’s core menu items have been free of trans fat since their respective introductions, dating as far back as the chain’s first restaurant opening 41 years ago. The chain’s signature entrees, Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A® Nuggets and Chick-fil-A Chick n-Strips®, are pressure cooked in 100-percent refined peanut oil (naturally trans fat free). However, Chick-fil-A has spent the last two years working to remove trans fat from the few remaining products, including its popular Waffle Potato Fries®, dessert items and, most recently, its breakfast biscuits. The chain is depleting its current biscuit recipe supply and anticipates its restaurants nationwide will be serving the trans fat-free recipe by the end of October….read more

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) provides the strongest association to date between trans fat and heart disease. It found that women in the U.S. with the highest levels of trans fat in their blood had three times the risk of CHD as those with the lowest levels. The study was published online on March 26, 2007, and will appear in the April 10, 2007 print issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“The strength of this study is that the amount of trans fatty acid levels was measured in blood samples from the study population. Because humans cannot synthesize trans fatty acids, the amount of trans fat in red blood cells is an excellent biomarker of trans fat intake,” said senior author Frank Hu, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH.

Clinical trials have shown that trans fatty acids increase LDL cholesterol and lower HDL cholesterol, making them the only class of fatty acids, which includes saturated fat, to have this dual effect. HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is considered a “good” cholesterol; LDL (low-density lipoprotein) a “bad” cholesterol…more details

Harvard Law and Policy Review Online

We seem to have finally reached and surpassed a critical mass in the trans fat debate. Trans fat has been all over the news lately, spurred on by lawsuits and New York City’s highly publicized ban on artificial trans fat that went into effect on December 5, 2006. But really, the trans fat debate has been going on for almost twenty years. Only recently have consumer and public interest groups been successful in getting the word out to the public: trans fat is BAD. So bad, in fact, that in July 2002 the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine concluded that the only safe level of trans fat in the diet is “zero.“

Trans fat is a monounsaturated fat that occurs naturally in low levels in milk and beef, but 80 percent of the trans fat Americans consume is from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. The hydrogenation process creates an artificial “Frankenfat” through an industrial process that causes the hydrogen molecules in unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to switch over from one side of the carbon chain to the other. Normally unsaturated fatty acids are in a liquid state. But hydrogenation causes the unsaturated fatty acids to solidify at room temperature. The inexpensive oils are attractive to food manufacturers because they have a longer shelf life and longer fry life than other oils. That makes them useful for fried foods like French fries, donuts, and taco shells. And they give baked goods like cookies, crackers, and pies the texture that previously came from lard…read more