Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

C Ed Wright — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:36:45 GMT

FYFFI, the Edible Oil article above contains these interesting gems:

"...Canola oil, processed from a hybrid form of rape-seed, is particularly rich in fatty acids containing three double bonds and can contain as much as 50 per cent trans fats."

and

"Trans fats of a particularly problematic type are also formed during the process of deodorising canola oil, although they are not indicated on labels for canola oil."

At www.welch-holme-clark.com/rapeseed_oil_-_refined_spec_-_.html, we find that:

"Natural rapeseed oil contains erucic acid, which is mildly toxic to humans in large doses but is used as a food additive in smaller doses. Canola is one of many selected cultivars of rapeseed bred to have a low erucic acid content. Canola was developed in Canada and its name is a contraction of "Canadian oil, low acid". The name was also chosen partly for marketing reasons, so successfully that the name is sometimes mis-applied to other cultivars of rapeseed."

NOW HEAR THIS at www.dldewey.com/.../canola.htm:

"American health food store operators merely parrot the hype without checking all the facts ... All food grade canola, including the varieties sold in health food stores, are deodorized from its natural terrible stink with 300 degree F. high temperature refining. You cannot cook a vegetable oil at that temperature and leave behind anything much edible.

"Research at the University of Florida-Gainesville, determined that as much as 4.6% of all the fatty acids in unrefined canola are "trans" isomers (which are somewhat like plastic) due to the refining process ... so you are ingesting isomers that are similar to plastic and plastic is toxic.

"Canola oil is registered with the EPA as a pesticide ... You can view the report on the EPA site at ... :

www.epa.gov/.../fs011332t.htm

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

C Ed Wright — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:04:51 GMT

FYFI, from Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/.../Trans_fat:

"Trans fat is the common name for a type of unsaturated fat with trans isomer fatty acid(s). Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

"Most trans fats consumed today are industrially created by partially hydrogenating plant oils — a process developed in the early 1900s and first commercialized as Crisco in 1911. The goal of partial hydrogenation is to add hydrogen atoms to unsaturated fats, making them more saturated. These more saturated fats have a higher melting point making them attractive for baking, and extending their shelf-life. Another particular class of trans fats, vaccenic acid occurs in trace amounts in meat and dairy products from ruminants.

"Unlike other dietary fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health.[1] Eating trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease.[2] For these reasons, health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are generally considered to be more of a health risk than those occurring naturally.[3]

"Chemically, trans fats are made of the same building blocks as non-trans fats, but have a different arrangement. In trans fatty acid molecules, the hydrogen atoms bonded to pair(s) of doubly bonded carbon atoms (characteristic of all unsaturated fats) are in the trans rather than the cis arrangement. This results in a straight, rather than kinked, shape for the carbon chain, more like the straight chain of a fully saturated fat."

It's way too long an article to post here so go read for yourself.

In this article there is also an informative link to en.wikipedia.org/.../Vaccenic_acid, the natural trans fat that is NOT toxic. It is also found in trace amounts in some useful herbs.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

C Ed Wright — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:28:02 GMT

From the article Peter Booker so rightly recommends:

"Scientists of the period were grappling with a new threat to public health: a steep rise in heart disease. While turn-of-the-century mortality statistics are unreliable, they consistently indicate that heart disease caused no more than 10 per cent of all deaths - considerably less than infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. By 1950, coronary heart disease (CHD) was the leading source of mortality in the United States, causing more than 30 per cent of all deaths.

"The greatest increase came under the rubric of myocardial infarction (MI) - a massive blood clot leading to obstruction of a coronary artery and consequent death to the heart muscle. MI was almost non-existent in 1910 and caused no more than 3,000 deaths per year in 1930. By 1960, there were at least 500,000 MI deaths per year in the US. What lifestyle changes had caused this increase?"

[Skipping paragraphs about nearly eliminating early mortality with better sanitation & hygeine during these decades, etc.]:

"By 1950, butter consumption had dropped from 18 pounds per person per year to just over 10 pounds. Margarine filled in the gap, rising from about two pounds per person at the turn of the century to about eight. Consumption of vegetable shortening - used in crackers and baked goods - remained relatively steady at about 12 pounds per person per year, but vegetable oil consumption had more than tripled from just under three pounds per person per year to more than 10 pounds."

And they came to the inescapably obvious conclusion:

"Americans should eat the traditional foods - including meat, eggs, butter and cheese - that nourished their ancestors, and avoid the newfangled, vegetable-oil-based foods that were flooding the grocers' shelves."

Of course, NO foods are merely "vegetable-oil-based" -- they are instead "partially-hydrogenated" vegetable-oil-based; that is, they include this poison in the ingredients.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

C Ed Wright — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:26:05 GMT

For anyone needing more info:

"Health implications {larger bold subtitle in Wikipedia article]

"Main article: trans fat

"A side effect of incomplete hydrogenation having implications for human health is the isomerization of the remaining unsaturated carbon bonds. The cis configuration of these double bonds predominates in the unprocessed fats in most edible fat sources, but incomplete hydrogenation partially converts these molecules to trans isomers, which have been implicated in circulatory diseases including heart disease (see trans fats). The catalytic hydrogenation process favors the conversion from cis to trans bonds because the trans configuration has lower energy than the natural cis one. At equilibrium, the trans/cis isomer ratio is about 2:1. Food legislation in the US and codes of practice in EU has long required labels declaring the fat content of foods in retail trade, and more recently, have also required declaration of the trans fat content.

"In 2006, New York City adopted the US’s first major municipal ban on most artificial trans fats in restaurant cooking."

In simpler terms, these unnatural trans- isomers are toxic. This toxicity, and the highly-reactive free radicals released during incomplete 'digestion' of the unnatural trans fats due to no digestive enzymes for them, causes inflammation. It is this inflammation that triggers release of LDL's to mitigate such inflammation. Elevated LDL's are merely a SYMPTOM of systemic inflammation, and NOT a cause of ANYTHING.

LDL's among other things help repair ('placque') free radical damage (lesions) to arteries. Also an HHV causes such lesions -- absent PH toxicity, no virus, no lesions.

Artificially lowering cholestrols that are REQUIRED for immune function to below 200 dramatically reduces immune response, dramatically increasing susceptibility to unchecked malignancy, i.e., CANCER.

A naturally occurring trans fat, vaccenic acid C18:1w7, found in many foods, is not toxic.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

C Ed Wright — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:52:37 GMT

From Wikipedia we learn:

"Margarine, particularly polyunsaturated margarine, has become a major part of the Western diet. In the United States, for example, in 1930 the average person ate over 18 lb (8 kg) of butter a year and just over 2 lb (900g) of margarine. By the end of the 20th century, an average American ate just under 4 lb (1.8 kg) of butter and nearly 8 lb (3.6 kg) of margarine."

And,

"Trans fat [larger bold heading in original Wikipedia article]

"Several large studies [7][9][10] have indicated a strong link between earlier death and consumption of high amounts of trans-fat. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association (AHA) all have recommended people to limit intake of trans-fat.

"Trans fats do not occur naturally in vegetable fats but are a consequence of partial hydrogenation of the fats (in contrast, full hydrogenation does not generate trans fats, but only fully saturated fats). Particularly in the US, partial hydrogenation has been common as a result of the dependence on a very limited number of vegetable oil sources. In other parts of the world, the industry started to move away from using partially hydrogenated oils since the mid-nineties [11], and produce new margarine varieties that contain less or no trans fat [12]. Many manufacturers in the US now label their products according to government regulations now as "zero grams" trans-fat, which effectively means less than 500 mg trans-fat per serving."

It seems unlikely that the above takes into account that nearly all the currently available Soilent Green manufactured/processed Foodah in stores also contains PH oils, i.e. trans-fats.

All the Weasel Wording in the above Wikipedia article notwithstanding, we also learn, doing the math, that this growing use of trans fats is one major direct cause of heart disease & cancer now being #1 & 2 causes of death in America. "Spread" the word!!!

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

Peter Booker — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:35:54 GMT

I commend everybody to click on the link above to Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry above. IT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE.

I was an industrial chemist in the Pharmaceutical industy when these papers that Mary Enig refers to were written - I knew about the dangers of trans fats/hydrogenated vegetable oils then; I made the concious decision never to knowing eat trans fats again.

When I retired, I took a part time job where biscuits were availble at all times - I pigged out on them, not being aware of the high content of trans fats - within 6 months, I had a heart attack (MI); prior to this, my heart was in good, healthy condition - I had eaten bacon, fried bread, eggs, butter etc. with no known problems, and it was only when I started eating biscuits that the problem arose - It may all be a coincidence of course, but I doubt it

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

Elton — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:26:15 GMT

I don't patronize Starbucks, so Starbucks is out of my hair. One thing though, lard is a much better ingredient for your homemade pie crusts than Crisco Vegetable Shortening. And this article gives us one more reason to use lard. Chemically, vegetable shortening has added hydrogen. But because the hydrogen isn't bonded correctly, the fat produced is a problem. Naturally occuring saturated fats have their hydrogen atoms in all the right places. Vegetable shortening does not.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

labrat — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:02:06 GMT

Everybody knows that eating a lot of fat -- the wrong kind of fat -- can cause a heart attack. That's the bad news.

Everyone's been taught to believe that.

Me? I don't know this to be a fact at all. I think this belief is based on a whole lot of propaganda, not scientific evidence.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

Bridestein — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:20:52 GMT

As a veteran newspaper employee, I can tell you that this story was cut off to make it fit into the space available. If we could read the original copy, it might actually come to a point.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

Russ Bianchi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:03:31 GMT

I'm STILL waiting for a PR or Spin update from Star-Bull's Coffee on the announcement they might eventually get around to reducing or elimination harmful TRANS FATS in their bake goods in 10 US cities (never mind the TENS OF THOUSANDS of locations domestically/globally ignoring this).

And once Star-Bulls is done actually following through on that, then the can start on the the cancer causing acrlyamide in ALL their baked goods.

re: Trans Fats Disrupt Electricity in the Heart

rablpn — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:05:12 GMT

This is a very misleading article since it lumps artificially saturated/trans fats with naturally occurring saturated fats. They are not the same and should be studied separately if one wants to draw valid conclusions from research.Seeing these 2 fats treated as one kind of fat is always a red flag that the study is flawed. Shame on those scientists for not paying attention in their organic chemistry and biochemistry courses. It is sloppy research and reporting like this that perpetuate the saturated fat/heart disease myth that is keeping so many people sick.