trans fats

[CompNut]

I heard on t.v. this evening that Trans fats are present in a lot of processed foods, cakes, biscuits, even though it has been shown they cause health/ high cholesterol problems.

Why are food manufacturers in the UK not required to list these trans fats ingredients on the labelling? (In the U.S. this has to be on the labels apparently.)

Would any food scientist reading this tell us more about Trans fats and their harmfulness, please?

[Hippy]

Trans fats, sometimes called Hydrogenated Vegetable Fats, of just Hydrogenated Fats, are cheap. The substance is a solid-ish fat used to make industrial pastry and cakes instead of the traditional natural unsaturated fats, and is manufactured from liquid low grade oils by adding a nickel catalyst transforming "unsaturated" fats into "saturated" fats with additional hydrogen molecules.

This process makes the fats longer lasting and more stable in an industrial setting. Trans fats are poisonous. In the short term, human serum cholesterol levels may appear to be reduced, but hydrogenated oils raise LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels, and raise triglyceride levels. These adverse effects may be hidden by the apparent reduction in serum cholesterol levels. Accordingly, hydrogenated oils or Trans Fats are an arch enemy of your heart and cardiovascular system. They also displace essential oils from human cells and are well known as major causers of cancers. Many researchers believe that hydrogenated fats cause cellular mutation and is a contributing factor to obesity.

[CompNut]

Many thanks, Hippy, for your most interesting and clear information.
For the sake of good health, it seems that everyone should boycott the foods in which trans fats occur. I certainly shall.

Best wishes.

[Gef]

Hippy's answer is not entirely correct. Trans fatty acids are bad for you, agreed.

However, hydrogenated fats are entirely different. Hydrogenation removes some of the double bonds in an unsaturated oil (liquid) turning it into a fat (solid). This is how margarines are produced from vegetable oils. In fact the term trans only applies to molecules which contain double bonds and so hydrogenated fats (no double bonds) are neither trans or cis.

All natural oils are cis rather than trans. Trans fatty acids are formed when oils are heated to high temperatures.

[qapmoc]

Are we in fact heading to a eventual situation where after all these years of being told that margerine etc.. is good for you and butter etc... is bad for you, that someone will say oops! we were wrong and in fact saturated fats are OK to eat and you should avoid margerines etc..

[Gef]

Sorry qapmoc, my answer could have been clearer. The evidence suggests that saturated fats are less healthy than unsaturated oils and so when we eat fats/oils (we have to as part of a balanced, healthy diet) we should keep saturated fats to a minimum.

My point was that hydrogenated vegetable oils are neither cis or trans although they are less unsaturated.