A California lawyer recently raised the public's awareness about trans fats by filing a lawsuit to ban Oreo cookies in his home state.
Trans fats, found in cookies such as Oreos, crackers, icing, chips, and microwave popcorn, are artificial fats made when hydrogen gas reacts with oil to make the oil more solid.
The lawyer filed the suit because he felt trans fats posed a serious health threat to children. "Many studies have found that trans fats raise our risk of heart disease and can contribute to an increase in total cholesterol levels and a drop in the healthy HDL cholesterol," said Cynthia Payne, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland Medical Center. "These man-made fats are much worse for you than any other natural fat, even the other saturated fats found in butter and beef," adds Payne. Children who start at age 3 and 4 to eat a steady diet of fast food, pop tarts, commercially prepared fish sticks, stick margarine, cake, candy, cookies and microwave popcorn can be expected to get heart disease earlier than kids who are eating foods without trans fats such as most cereals, breads, chicken and fish, fruit, vegetables and low-fat bakery products.
"Just as we wouldn't put bacon grease down the kitchen sink because it would clog it, hard saturated fats such as trans fats do the same thing in our bodies. Over years, they can 'clog the pipes' that serve the heart or brain and can contribute to heart attack or stroke risk," said Payne.
Some manufacturers include trans fats in food because it prolongs the product's shelf life. Right now, food manufacturers do not have to list trans fats on the nutritional food label. "A consumer can only tell if a product has trans fats if the ingredients list includes partially hydrogenated oil," said Payne.
Avoid foods with labels that say "hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated canola, soybean or cottonseed oil." Any oil can be made hard and stiff into a hydrogenated oil. The listing order for hydrogenated fats is important; if it is first, second, or third, there is a lot of it in the food.
Foods that come from nature won't have trans or hydrogenated fats. Naturally low fat foods are generally the best: fruits of all types, vegetables, chicken, turkey, fish, beans, whole grains, breads and some cereals. These foods can be fixed in fun ways that your children will enjoy. Parents should set an example for children by eating healthy foods.
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