On the 16th June 2015, there was an official ruling from the Food and Drugs Administration that all American companies need to eliminate trans fats from their food products by 2018. Also known as partially hydrogenated oils were deemed no longer safe for human use.
Trans fats are industrially produced to create desired properties such as longer sell by date and solid at room temperature for easy transportation. The foods they are most commonly found in are; margarines; fast food; cakes; muffins; pastries; pies and other takeaway foods. They have been consistently shown to be associated with coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes and more studies are showing links with other diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. There are foods that have naturally occuring trans fats but these are not thought to be a health concern.
The mechanisms for the increase risk of heart disease are widely understood and has been proven on a number of occasions. Trans fats are believed to increase the bad cholesterol and decrease the good cholesterol in the blood. Therefore, making our arteries very susceptible to a process called atherosclerosis, which leads to blockages in the arteries and therefore increasing risk of heart attacks. It is thought that trans fats create double the damage to cholesterol levels compared to the other bad fat in our diets, saturated fat. The mechanisms for the elevated risk of the other diseases are still under investigation.
Researchers at the Harvard T.H Chan School estimate that eliminating industrial trans fats from food products could prevent up to 1 in 5 heart attacks and related deaths. A professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the University said that the ruling was a “victory for public health” and will go on to save lives.
So why does the UK not ban these criminal substances? The UK has one of the highest rates of heart disease in the world and is our biggest killer. In 2013, it was estimated that nearly a third (29%) of all deaths in the UK were due to coronary heart disease and in 2010, it was declared that 40,000 of these could have been prevented. Many companies have taken it upon themselves to eliminate trans fats from their foods such as Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda. However, when buying a product, it is still recommended to check the labels for trans fat, or partially hydrogenated oil as they are also known as. The World Health Organisation recommend a maximum intake of 2% of trans fats/daily intake, which is approximately 4.4g for an adult consuming 2000 calories a day.
Hopefully, in the future, we will not have to worry about checking labels as we will have followed in the Americans footsteps and banned all trans fats. But until then, avoid these nasty products as much as you can! Stay heart safe GHP-ers 🙂