Trans Fatty Acids Amber Page

Summary What is Fat? Types of Fat History of Trans Fats Benefits of Trans Fats Trans Fats and Health Risks Trans Fat in the News What is Currently Being Done?

What is Fat? E-shaped molecule – Glycerol derived backbone Stays constant – Three fatty acid groups Can change depending on type of fat Solid or liquid at room temperature – Depends on composition Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble – Can not be absorbed and digested without fats

What is Fat? Example of a typical fat molecule

Types of Fat Saturated Fat Unsaturated Fat – Monounsaturated – Polyunsaturated – Trans Fat

Saturated Fats No double bonds in fatty acid chain Examples – Butyric acid (butter) – Lauric acid (breast milk, coconut oil, and palm oil) – Myristic acid (cow milk and dairy products) Diets high in saturated fats can cause Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

Saturated Fats Myristic Acid

Saturated Fats Controversy on whether trans-unsaturated fats are better or worse than saturated fats – Big push in the 80s and 90s to replace saturated fats with trans-unsaturated fats (replace butter with margarine etc.) – Some say “Big Business” played a role in demonizing saturated fats

Monounsaturated Fats One double bond present Olive oil is 75% monounsaturated Canola oil is 57-60% monounsaturated Higher melting point than polyunsaturated Lower melting point than saturated Usually thought of as “better” than saturated fats because of their fluidity

Monounsaturated Fats Oleic Acid (olive oil)

Polyunsaturated Fats More than one double bond present Lower melting temperature than both saturated and monounsaturated fats Found in soybeans, fish oils, grain products Necessary for the body and protects against illness

Polyunsaturated Fats Linoleic Acid

Trans Fat Type of unsaturated fat – Mono or poly Same chemical formula as many other unsaturated fats, but are in the trans position – Less fluid – Higher melting point Occurs naturally in meat and dairy products from ruminants (cattle, sheet, goats etc.)

Trans Fat Elaidic Acid (hydrogenated vegetable oils)

Trans Fat Elaidic Acid (hydrogenated vegetable oils) Oleic Acid (olive oil) Trans Melting Point: 46.5ºC Cis Melting Point: 13.5ºC

Trans Fat Presently, most trans fat is made industrially – Side effect of partial hydrogenation of plant oils Catalytic hydrogenation of plant oils favors the trans position – Lower energy than cis position – At equilibrium, trans/cis ratio is about 2:1 Hydrogenation causes essential fatty acids to be destroyed, and fatty acids similar to saturated fats to be created

Trans Fat Not necessary nor beneficial to health Trans fat increases risk of CHD Some say that trans fat from partial hydrogenation of plant oils are worse than naturally occurring trans fats.

Trans Fat Naturally occurring trans fat makes up only 2-5% of total fat in cows, sheep, etc. – Conjugated linoleic acid – Vaccenic acid Trans fat in hydrogenated vegetable can be up to 45% of total fat – Shortenings-30% – Margarine-15% Some margarine is reformulated to reduce this number

History of Trans Fat 1890s – Paul Sabatier developed the chemistry of hydrogenation – Only hydrogenated vapors 1901 – Wilhelm Normann developed methods to hydrogenate liquid oils – Patented the process 1909 – Proctor and Gamble bought the rights to Normann’s patent 1911 – P & G developed Crisco First hydrogenated shortening Hydrogenated cottonseed oil

History of Trans Fat Popularity of hydrogenated fats increased until 1960s – Lower costs – Belief that unsaturated trans fats in margarine were healthier than saturated fats in butter Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) campaigned against saturated fats in the fast food industry in 1984 – Fast food industries replaced saturated fats with trans fats In 1987, CSPI defended trans fats in their newsletter In 1992, CSPI started speaking out against trans fats In 1994, it was estimated that trans fats caused over 30,000 deaths a year Currently, CSPI is against trans fats

Benefits of Trans Fats Partially hydrogenating plant oils – Decreases rancidity Decomposition of fats by hydrolysis or oxidation – Increases shelf life – Decreases need for refrigeration – Forms a semi-solid because of increased melting temperature Malleable fat that melts when cooked or consumed Semi-solid fats are preferred for baking because they cause a more desirable texture in the baked products

Benefits of Trans Fats Can replace butter and lard Foods containing trans fats are considered kosher Can be consumed by vegans, vegetarians, and people who follow religions banning certain animal products

Trans Fats and Health Risks Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) – CHD risk doubles with each 2% increase in trans fat consumed – CHD risk doubles with each 15% increase in sat fat consumed Trans fat and sat fat increases levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) in the body Trans fat, but not sat fat, decreases levels of HDL (good cholesterol) in the body As a result, the increase in the LDL/HDL ratio due to trans fat is about double that due to sat fat

Trans Fats and Health Risks LDL – Transports cholesterol throughout the body – When too much is present, builds up in the walls of arteries Makes arteries hard and narrow HDL – Picks up extra cholesterol and brings it back to the liver

Trans Fats and Health Risks Increases triglycerides – Another type of fat – Can also build up in the arteries – Can cause heart disease Causes more inflammation – Process by which your body responds to injury – Inflammation may play a role in fatty blockages in the heart blood vessels – Trans fat appears to damage cells lining blood vessels Leads to inflammation

Trans Fats and Health Risks Cancer – No significant evidence that trans fat increases risk – Current studies are finding it may have a connection to prostate cancer Diabetes – Some evidence suggests that risk of type-2 diabetes increases with trans fat consumption – No conclusions have been made

Trans Fats and Health Risks Obesity – No scientific evidence that specifically links trans fat intake to obesity – People who eat a lot tend to eat a lot of trans fat Does not mean that trans fat is the specific cause of obesity Fertility – Research showed that increases in trans fat may cause increases in infertility in women CHD is the only health risk with strong evidence linking it to trans fat intake

Trans Fats and Health Risks It has been found that trans fat found in breast milk varies with maternal trans fat intake – 1% in Spain – 2% in France – 7% in Canada

Trans Fats and Health Risks New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) – "from a nutritional standpoint, the consumption of trans fatty acids results in considerable potential harm but no apparent benefit.“ National Academy of Sciences (NAS) – "trans fatty acids are not essential and provide no known benefit to human health“ – "that dietary trans fatty acids are more deleterious with respect to CHD than saturated fatty acids“ – NAS reported that there is no level of trans fat consumption that can be considered safe Even a small increase in trans fat consumption increases risk of CHD

Trans Fats and Health Risks NAS has not recommended removing all trans fats from diets – Trans fats occur naturally in meat and dairy products – Removing trans fats from diets would possibly cause malnutrition and undesirable side effects World Health Organization recommended a level of less than 1% of overall energy intake

Trans Fats and Health Risks Have been some suggestions that trans fat naturally present in dairy and meat are different than those synthetically made – US National Dairy Council claims that natural trans fats do not have the same negative effects – However, this may just be due to the fact that levels of trans fats found in dairy and animal products are low

Trans Fats and Health Risks Eating unsaturated but not trans fats decreases risk of CHD – Replacing 2% of trans fat intake with non-trans unsaturated fats reduces risk of CHD by 53% – Replacing 5% of sat fat intake with non-trans unsaturated fat reduces risk of CHD by only 43% Consumption of polyunsaturated fats are linked to a decrease in mortality

Trans Fat in the News July 11, 2003 – All trans fat must be labeled on food products – Trans fat levels of less than 0.5 g/serving can be labeled 0 g/serving – Trans fat, as defined by FDA, is a system with one or more trans linkages not in a conjugated system Naturally occurring trans fats are not included – Some think that 0.5 g/serving is too high to be considered “trans fat free” – In Canada, 0.2 g/serving is considered “trans fat free”

Trans Fat in the News May 2003 – BanTransFats.com sued Kraft Foods for having too much trans fat in Oreos – Lawsuit dropped after Kraft agreed to try to reformulate Oreos May 2005 – Tiburon, CA is the first American city where restaurants voluntarily cook using trans-fat-free oils 2006 – CSPI sues KFC over use of trans fat in foods – KFC agreed to replace its partially hydrogenated soybean oil with trans-fat-free soybean oil

Trans Fat in the News December 5, 2006 – New York City is the first American city to limit uses of trans fats in restaurants – By July 1, 2007, no more use of oils and shortenings containing more than 0.5 g/serving of trans fat – By July 1, 2008, all items on menu must not contain more than 0.5 g/serving of trans fat Chicago is considering a ban on trans fats

What is Currently Being Done? Many food companies and fast food restaurants are voluntarily reducing or eliminating trans fat from their foods – Walt Disney will get rid of trans fats from their theme parks by end of 2007 Crisco, now owned by J.M. Smucker Company, released a trans-fat-free version of Crisco – Now have removed all but 1 g/serving of trans fats from their products – These have replaced the trans-fat-free version

What is Currently Being Done? Partial hydrogenation of plant oils without production of trans fat – Varied pressure (much higher) – Under normal processing conditions, trans fat makes up around 40% of total fat – Under high pressure conditions, trans fat makes up only around 17% of total fat Can then be mixed with non-hydrogenated oil to make margarine containing 5-6% trans fat Can be considered “trans-fat-free” – Can also possibly change temperature and length of time for hydrogenation to control trans fat

References American Heart Association-Trans Fat Overview American Journal of Clinical Nutrition FDA-Revealing Trans Fats Mayo Clinic-Trans Fat:Avoid This Cholesterol Double Whammy Wikipedia

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