FDA Proposes Eliminating Trans Fats

In a shocking and interesting move this week, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule that would all but eliminate trans fats from the American diet.

First, an explanation: trans fats are the type of fat that is created when certain vegetable oils are “hydrogenated”– that is, solidified by a chemical process– to produce a consistency more like butter or lard.  The solidification process removes a double carbon bond in the fat molecule and adds a hydrogen atom.  This new single carbon bond is randomly either cis- or trans- placed, that is, left handed or right handed.  Normally, this type of fat molecule always has cis- bonds, making a long straight chain of hydrophobic carbon atoms.  When a trans- bond is randomly inserted, it produces a kink or bend in the chain; it is still hydrophobic, but it’s not as long .  This chemical process is at the heart of the margarine industry: you take an oil like soybean oil, hydrogenate it, and add the flavor molecule that makes it taste like butter.  The result is a product that is semisolid at room temperature and has all of the flavor, most of the consistency, and none of the quality of butter.

It appears that the type and quantity of fat in one’s diet have an effect on one’s chances of developing arteriosclerosis in later life and one’s risk of dying from a heart attack relatively young.  Some people are susceptible to hardening of the arteries brought on by a diet high in animal fats.  This connection is sufficiently obvious that over a hundred years ago doctors were advising reducing diets low in animal fats.  Fish oils were recognized to be more beneficial.  The margarine industry enjoyed a perceived lower degree of risk because it was made from vegetable fats known to be benign.  However, the end result of the hydrogenation process was a fat that turned out to be more toxic than butter fat.  This disastrous (to the margarine industry) fact was not widely know up til now, and in fact is still not widely known.

Fats (and oils) that are solid at room temperature appear to be more likely to increase one’s risk of arteriosclerosis, while oils that are liquid at room temperature and below seem to be more benign.  Thus coconut oil, which is solid or nearly so, is known to promote atherosclerosis in rabbits that are susceptible to the condition.  Fish oils, like that derived from salmon, are liquid well below room temperature, and are thought to be quite beneficial for arteriosclerosis.

Thus, the enjoyment derived from melting butter on hot toast derives from butter’s tendency to promote arteriosclerosis with its chemical property of hardness.

The only other problem with removing trans fats from our diet now is the food industry’s persistent attachment to obsolete methods of production, methods that are now known to cause serious ill health effects that include premature arteriosclerosis and coronary infarction.

For the New York Time’s version of this historic announcement about banning trans fats: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/health/fda-trans-fats.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131108&_r=0&pagewanted=all