No less than a third of all calories are now eaten outside the home – canteens, restaurants, snack bars, fat food counters, etc. With the growing surge in eating patterns beyond the home, nutritionists are concerned and no less alarmed. Food labels are now being taken seriously.
Trans fats and its consequences have entered the everyday vocabulary and public health policy is changing as a result. People’s health related behaviour has changed globally. This has translated into ‘cities banning the trans fat’ like New York emerging as the first US city to do so. Israel has passed a bill that would require all restaurants to list calorie contents next to their menu items.
However, if you are new to trans fat, it can be summed up as a prized ingredient by the food industry for their ability to prolong baked goods’ shelf life and to last longer in deep fryers. A good number of global studies have discovered a link between Trans fat intake and the risk of coronary heart disease.
According to the latest issue of the journal Circulation, a study was conducted from 1989 to 1990. Nurses’ Health Study collected blood samples from 32, 826 women. During six years of follow up, 166 cases of coronary heart disease occurred in study participants. These were compared to 327 women without the disease.
Total Trans fatty acid content in red blood cells closely matched the amount of Trans fat in the diet. Higher total Trans fat content was associated with higher LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower HDL (good) cholesterol, and an elevated risk of coronary heart disease. Among women with the highest amounts of Trans fats, the risk of coronary heart disease tripled.
Trans fat is so dangerous a content that the World Health Organisation urged all member countries to outlaw it decades ago in 1978. Every other day a new research study pours in to spell the devil lurking in our food and its deadly consequences. But now it is easier to avoid Trans fat, as they need to be mentioned on the labels and as a rule of thumb, think of any food with 0.5 or more grams of Trans or saturated fat as trouble.
The less of both you eat the better. So the next time you think of noshing on snacks, pause at the pastries, be fearful of the fries and expect a reasonable bunch of trans fat from burgers. The invisible Trans fats are listed on all food labels and it has become easier to spot them in packaged foods but still you need to keep in cautious.
A product claiming to have ZERO Trans fat can actually contain up to 0.5 grams of Trans fat in the US, 0.2 grams in Canada. In fact the Canadian government is under pressure from the Heart and Stroke Foundation to remove ‘trans fat’ from the food supply altogether. So next you need to scan the ingredients list to find any traces of ‘partially hydrogenated oils’. Look for products that don’t contain any.
No less than a third of all calories are now eaten outside the home – canteens, restaurants, snack bars, fat food counters, etc. With the growing surge in eating patterns beyond the home, nutritionists are concerned and no less alarmed. Food labels are now being taken seriously. 
