Note: this piece first appeared in the May 2008 issue of Clark Wellness ForkBytes.
It’s a confusing time to be health conscious. With the Information Age in full swing, we all have easy access to an unprecedented amount of information about health and nutrition. Even if we don’t seek this information out, we manage to become exposed to it through the media and advertising. And, unfortunately, a lot of the information out there — even well researched, good information — is confusing at best. Often it’s even contradictory.
Health professionals disagree on nearly every aspect of health with just a few generally accepted exceptions (for example, all doctors now agree that smoking is not a healthy habit). In the nutrition arena, controversy is pervasive; one extremely popular author will denounce olive oil or grapefruit in the same week another extremely popular author announces his latest cure-all, “The Olive Oil & Grapefruit Diet.” There is, however, one food category universally recognized as harmful to health: trans fats. But what the heck are trans fats?!
To understand what constitutes a “trans” fat, we have to look at what makes up a fat on the molecular level. Fats are basically chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached (joined by bonds). The placement and number of the hydrogen atoms determines which type of fat the molecule is. In the diagram below (figure 1), the Cs represent carbon atoms and the Hs represent hydrogen atoms. The lines between the two letters represent the bonds between the two elements.
You can see that in figure 1, each carbon atom has a hydrogen atom attached. That means this diagram shows a saturated fat, such as butter or coconut oil. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature.
When a carbon atom in a fat molecule is missing a hydrogen, two carbons will bond together (using a double bond). These unsaturated fats, such as extra-virgin olive oil or canola oil, are liquid at room temperature. When there is only one double bond, the fat is monounsaturated; when there are two or more double bonds, the fat is polyunsaturated, as in figure 2.
The process of hydrogenation of fats began in the early 1900s. Food manufacturers wanted a way to produce shelf-stable fats that were less expensive than natural saturated fats. Basically, the process involves breaking the double bonds in an unsaturated fat and forcing a hydrogen atom onto the bond — making an unsaturated fat solid at room temperature. This is a great advantage for a food manufacturer because unsaturated fats (usually soybean oil) are extremely inexpensive, and hydrogenating them allows the manufactured food products to stay on the shelves for months at a time without spoiling.
For consumers, on the other hand, hydrogenated fats pose several concerns. The chemical hydrogenation process causes the structure of the fat molecule to be altered (the original formation of an unsaturated fat is called a cis formation; after hydrogenation, the molecule is altered into a bent trans formation — hence the term “trans fat”). Several large studies have shown that consuming hydrogenated fats raises LDL (“bad” cholesterol) and lowers HDL (“good” cholesterol). In addition, eating these fats may contribute to other major health problems, including cancer, liver dysfunction, infertility, inflammatory bowel disease, and diabetes (though more research is needed to confirm these possibilities).
As of January 1, 2008, it is now mandatory for food manufacturers to report trans fats on nutrition labels in the United States. Trans fats are often found in commercially produced crackers, cookies, candies, cereals, commercial peanut butter, and snacks, as well as margarine and shortening. Be sure to check food labels before buying (and eating) a product. Processed foods frequently contain trans fat because the hydrogenation process makes a product last much longer on the shelf — but keep in mind, if even bacteria can’t live on that food, it’s unlikely that your body will be well supported by it!
The easiest way to avoid trans fats is to eat a wholesome diet based on high-quality, unrefined, natural foods. Cooking your own food is a great way to guarantee you know what you are putting in your body. If you are used to cooking with margarine, it may be confusing to decide which cooking fats are the most health-supportive. We recommend extra-virgin olive oil, organic unsalted butter, and coconut oil for most cooking applications. If you need an unsaturated (liquid), no-taste oil (e.g., for baking), we suggest safflower or sunflower oil. Because pesticides are concentrated in fats, it’s important to choose organic cooking fats whenever possible.
