Avoid Deadly Trans Fats

Any oil that is partially hydrogenated should never be consumed because it contains trans fats . It is one of the deadliest substances found in processed foods and it operates stealthily, like a cat burglar who steals your most valued possessions at night while you sleep. Partial hydrogenation is an industrial process used to make foods cheaper. The process is also used to make oil more solid, provide longer shelf-life in baked products, longer fry-life for cooking oils and provide a certain kind of texture.

“Trans fatty acids are chemically altered substances in the same way that microwaved foods are chemically altered, although trans fats are much more dangerous. Their shape does not fit the natural shape of our bodily enzymes and membrane structures, thus they do not allow the body to function naturally as it should. The melting point of trans fats is higher (111 ° F), which makes them solid at both room and body temperature. Thus they are sticky rather than liquid, which causes blood platelets to clump together. This inability of trans fats to disperse increases the chances of a blood clot causing poor circulation, strokes and heart attacks.

Natural fat burns at 100 ° F. When we bring the body temperature to 100 ° F or higher through exercise we burn fat. Death occurs in humans when the body temperature rises above 109 ° F, thus trans fats cannot be burned by the body because their melting point is 111 ° F. The only way to rid the body of trans fats is to detoxify them, which is far more difficult than simply burning them off through exercise.

Trans fats interfere with electrical conductivity in the body because of their odd shape. They can be compared to a spark plug that has too large of a gap that causes an engine to misfire. These odd shapes that don’t belong in the body interfere with energy flow because the precise structural configurations of trans fat molecules are radically altered beyond their natural state. This is why all drugs have side-effects and why any artificial substance we put in the body should be considered a toxin. They are oddly shaped, deformed molecules that interfere with natural functions in the body. Trans fats cause disease because of their unnatural molecular shapes and the drugs that are supposed to cure us only worsen our health for the same reason.

It is paramount that the molecular shape of substances we put the body match those that belong in the body. Nothing artificial exactly matches what is found in nature at a molecular level. The chemical formula may look the same on paper, but in reality we cannot reproduce anything exactly the way nature made it.

Trans fats interfere with the production of prostaglandin, which regulates blood pressure, kidney function, immune system response and blood clotting. They can lead to atherosclerosis by increasing cholesterol and blood-fat levels, in part because they interfere with EFAs nutritional effectiveness in the body. Trans fats have a tendency to collect in the brain because of its sponge-like quality. The damage of trans fats can potentially cause to the brain is immeasurable.”1

Currently, all that is required for a food label to contain are the words partially hydrogenated fats to inform the public that it contains trans fats. By 2006 all food labels will need to state clearly that they contain “Trans Fats”. In the meantime, the trend toward using trans fats is increasing throughout the food industry. Even processed food companies that have traditionally never added trans fats to their products have begun adding them. Pepperidge Farms , for example, has traditionally been regarded as high quality cookies that are made from only the finest ingredients. However, they have begun using trans fats in nearly all their products, apparently because they no longer care about quality and what their cookies are made out of and are more about increasing sales and making money. Dove products are another example of processed food companies buckling to the temptation of adding trans fats to their products. Dove Ò was once a company that prided itself on the high quality of their products, which gave them a stellar reputation.

“The fact that trans fatty acids interfere with vital functions of essential and other highly saturated fatty acids makes their involvement in cancer likely.”2

Trans fats are found in nearly 90% of the pre-packaged foods on the market. It is in all ready-to-bake cookies, dinner rolls and biscuits, pre-packaged cookies such as Oreo Cookies Ò most frozen pizzas, frozen breads such as Texas toast type products. Trans fats are found in nearly all frozen TV dinners and frozen snack foods. Because we are pressed for time with busy schedules, we resort to ready-made meals to make things easy on ourselves. To save a little time in the kitchen, we end up poisoning our bodies and leading ourselves down the path to disease.

For more information visit: www.bantransfats.com. It is a very informative website that will tell you everything you need to know about why you should avoid deadly trans fats.

1. Achieving Great Health , by Bob McCauley.

2. Fats that Heal. Fats that Kill , by Udo Erasmus, p111. 1986.