Eat Fat, Lose Fat Read Free Page B

told to eat to reduce their cholesterol levels, actually increase cholesterol and also the risk for heart disease. For example, the Nurses’ Health Study, a long-term study of over 80,000 female nurses carried out by researchers at Harvard University, reported that substituting 30 calories of trans fats each day for 30 calories of carbohydrates increased the risk of heart disease by a factor of nearly two. The director of the study, Dr. Walter Willett, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, claimed that saturated fats also increased the risk, although much less; but other commentators on the overall study, such as J. Salmeron in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 2001, found no correlation between consumption of saturated fats and heart disease.
    Trans fats also compromise many bodily functions, including hormone synthesis, immune function, insulin metabolism, and tissue repair. What’s more, they promote weight gain. In fact, a person whose dietary fats are mostly trans fats is likely to weigh more than a person who does not consume trans fats, even if their caloric intake is the same. (One type of trans fat, called an isomer, occurs in small amounts in butter, beef, and lamb fat. But this isomer does not cause health problems. It is actually converted into a substance called CLA, which protects against weight gain.)
    In 2002, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that there is no safe level of trans fat in the diet. In 2004, an FDA advisory panel concluded that trans fat is “even more harmful than saturated fat.” (Actually, as we saw, saturated fats are not harmful.) Dr. Willett commented, “When partially hydrogenated vegetable oil was first used in foods many decades ago, it was considered safe. Now that studies have demonstrated that partially hydrogenated oil is a major cause of heart disease, it should be phased out of the food supply as rapidly as possible and replaced with more healthful oils.”
    In Chapter 3, we’ll provide more details of how trans fats are detrimental to every system in your body.
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    Does This Product Contain Trans Fats?
    You might assume that it’s easy to avoid trans fats by reading nutritional labels on the food products you buy—but you’d be wrong. Until 2003, manufacturers were not required to list the trans fat content of foods on the label. That year, the FDA finalized a requirement that all food labels list trans fat content by January 1, 2006.
    This regulation has led many food manufacturers to reduce or eliminate the amount of trans fats in their products. Frito-Lay, for example, no longer uses partially hydrogenated oils in most of its products. Kraft Foods has said it will reduce trans fat levels. Some smaller companies are moving in the same direction. Unfortunately, these manufacturers still are not using healthy, stable saturated fats, such as coconut oil, palm oil, lard, butterfat, or tallow (beef or sheep fat), and when they do use palm or coconut oil, it is usually also partially hydrogenated for a longer shelf life. Instead, they are primarily using liquid vegetable oils, which can also cause health problems, especially when consumed in large amounts or heated to high temperatures, as in frying.
    The labeling requirement won’t help you identify trans fats in restaurant meals, and most fast-food chains continue to use partially hydrogenated oils to fry foods. But not to worry: once you’ve begun eating wholesome, traditional foods, the idea of fast food won’t tempt you in the slightest.
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    The Scientific Turnaround on Fat
    Today, more physicians are beginning to admit that the anti-fat campaign hasn’t won the health-and-weight-loss war. Dr. Frank Hu, also of the Harvard School of Public Health, cautioned that “the exclusive focus on dietary fat has been a distraction in efforts to control obesity…” (our italics). Speaking to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory