Throughout the past year, grocery shoppers have become swarmed by the glaring notices plastered on most cookies, chips, crackers, bread and cereals – and the list of products goes on – that try to lure shoppers with three simple words: No trans fat!
The trans-fat frenzy has manipulated the way food manufacturers choose their ingredients, advertisers market food products and consumers select which brand of popcorn to buy.
Manufacturers use trans fats in foods because the fats increase a product’s shelf life. Ever examined the nutrition label on a container of cake frosting? The frosting can sweeten cakes for years after arriving at your neighborhood grocery.
Trans fats are created from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (the number one ingredient health experts urge to abandon from our diets). These oils pose detrimental concerns for an individual’s health and the nation’s obesity pandemic.
But few people fully understand the danger of the fat and most people are blinded by a new health scare prompted by the country’s recent trans fat-free eating habits.
Not using hydrogenated oils in foods does not suddenly transform a Totino’s pizza from a caloric tragedy to a healthy snack. The preservatives, low-grade ingredients, oils and chemicals do not simply disappear.
When food processors eliminate trans, the saturated fat content surges. Oils and ingredients high in saturated fats replace those with trans, allowing marketers to gleefully display “Trans-fat free” on the packaging.
Saturated fats are nearly as bad as trans, and, years ago, many health officials even believed the hazards of saturated fats outweighed those of trans; they raise cholesterol, cause cardiovascular disease and provoke heart attacks. Yummy.
The Food and Drug Administration strongly suggests that no individual intake more than 20 grams a day.
Dairy products, especially cheeses, and most processed foods contain scant to whopping traces of the fat. Saturated fat-laden foods are always the first for nutritionists to abolish from clients’ diets.
Some healthy items, however, do include moderate amounts of saturated fat, including olive oil and avocados, but naturally occurring foods such as these do not haunt health practitioners. The junk foods that Americans resort to so often because they provide quick hunger relief and satisfaction create the problem.
Soon, as more people gain awareness of the saturated fats found in a majority of the foods in this country, manufacturers may actually have to resort to creating healthy snacks – not just claiming trans fat-free while continuing to load on disturbingly unhealthy ingredients.
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