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Home › Articles › Your Children › Uh-oh, Oreos

Uh-oh, Oreos

The Trans Fats Debate

By Kelly Burgess

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Melanie Jordan, author of Have Your Cheeseburger and Keep Your Health Too (Booklocker.com, 2002), has been educating the public about the dangers of trans fats for a number of years. She laughs at Limbaugh's perspective.

"Most people I know don't want to shorten their life spans just because of the pressure on our social systems," says Jordan. "If he wants to eat trans fats and take his chances, that's fine. The issue isn't whether or not you make that choice. The issue is that people aren't informed that they're in there and therefore don't get the opportunity to make an informed decision."

Jordan says that the food lobby is so powerful that they keep the public from full knowledge of what they're eating. The good news is that most major manufacturers are bowing to public pressure and removing hydrogenated oils from their foods. The bad news is that some in the food lobby are pressing for packaging and serving size changes that would further obscure the true amounts of trans fats in certain foods.

Jordan and Enig both think that within a couple of years trans fats are going to be a rarity in foods simply because the evidence showing their negative health benefits is so overwhelming. Long before that, it will become a marketing tool for food manufacturers to boast of the lack of trans fats in various foods. It's up to the consumer to vote for that choice with their wallets.

Smart Snack Choices

The trick to avoiding trans fats is to bring a good pair of magnifying glasses to the supermarket for a close reading of the food labels. Many foods that we automatically grab off the shelves simply because they're what we're used to, have alternatives, perhaps a different brand that does not contain trans fats.

When reading the label, look for the words "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated." These are oils that are put through a process where hydrogen is bubbled through oil heated at super high temperatures to make it shelf stable. This produces the trans fatty acids known as trans fats. These particular types of fat are not digestible and create free radicals in the body that cause a great deal of arterial damage.

Many supermarkets have expanded their organic food sections, and the products in that area are often a good choice, but not always. At least one brand of vegetarian burger has partially hydrogenated oils. Many of the foods in the Healthy Choice product line are also high in trans fats, as are many other food labeled low fat, particularly frozen prepared foods and baked goods.

The healthiest choice of all is to eat food as close to its natural state as possible: cut up veggies and fruits, meat and fish either fresh or fresh frozen and desserts made from scratch. It isn't always possible, but when it is it's good for your family in more ways than one.


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