Image from Pexels
Trans fat has no known nutritional health benefits but contributes to developing diseases such as cardiovascular disease and stroke worldwide. Having trans fat is like a double-edged sword because it is often added to processed foods.
After all, it improves taste and texture and helps the food stay fresh longer. However, increased intake of trans fat is associated with increased risk of many diseases. Get to know trans fats and know what food you must avoid.
What is Trans Fat
Trans fat or unsaturated fat acids come from industrial or natural sources. It is also a dietary fat, the worst fat for your health.
The majority of trans fats found in food are created through an industrial process from liquid oils into solid fats, which raises low density lipoprotein, or bad cholesterol, and lowers high density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol.
Trans fats are widely used because they are solid at room temperature, and it is an inexpensive way to prolong the shelf life of food products. They are primarily used for baked goods and frying foods.
How Trans Fat Affects Your Health
Since trans fats raise the bad cholesterol, they consequently build up in the blood arteries. These build-ups will narrow and harden your arteries, causing decreased blood flow to your heart, causing symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or even worse, heart attack.
It also lowers your good cholesterol, which helps pick up and remove extra stored cholesterol and brings it back to the liver. However, this good cholesterol can’t do the job because the body now has lower amounts of good cholesterol.
If you have extra high cholesterol, your doctor might prescribe you medications such as Lipitor to lower your cholesterol. But do not worry; you can find coupons at BuzzRx Deals on Lipitor to help you.
Additionally, trans fat reduces the normal healthy responsiveness of endothelial cells, which line all of your blood vessels. It also promotes obesity and resistance to insulin. As you all know, obesity increases your risk of many other diseases.
Mortality Rate
With that, there is an increased risk of other different diseases, such as the increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The more you consume trans fats, the more it increases the risk of death by 34% and increases by 28% from coronary heart disease. Every 1% increase in trans fats, coronary heart disease, and risk of death increases by 12%. Every year, almost 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease are caused by dietary trans fats.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the REPLACE action framework in 2018 and advocated for the global elimination of industrially generated trans fat, with an eradication target set for 2023 due to the health concerns associated with these fats.
According to estimates from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the ban on trans fats might avert up to 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from coronary heart disease each year in the U.S.
Making Healthy Food Choices
Monitoring the trans fat content in foods is crucial. Be careful and make reading a habit, as not all processed foods contain trans food. So, when looking for foods to put in your grocery basket, ensure you are reading the product labels and that there is no trans fat in the food product.
These trans fats are commonly found in, but not limited to:
- Commercially baked goods such as biscuits, crackers, and pies.
- Microwave popcorn
- Frozen pizza
- Fried and battered foods
- Fast foods or restaurant foods
- Pre-mixed products such as pancakes
- Shortening and stick-margarine
- Processed and packed foods
- Cooking oils. Use healthier options such as olive, soybean, or canola oil.
The WHO advises that total trans fat intake should not exceed 1% of total intake or should be less than 2.2 g per day for a 2,000-calorie diet, despite the fact that there is no safe limit of consumption.
Ways to Avoid Trans Foods
Here are a few tips that will help you lower your trans food intake:
- Eating more whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean poultry instead of processed foods. When going to the grocery, you might want to avoid the inner aisles where you are most likely to find processed foods.
- Cut back on the consumption of processed foods. Follow the WHO recommendation of 2.2g/day.
- Avoid foods with partially hydrogenated oil listed as an ingredient. If foods containing partially hydrogenated oils can’t be avoided, choose products that list them near the end of the ingredient list.
- Instead of sticking margarine and vegetable shortening, swap them for olive oil, canola oil, or sunflower oil.
- Choose foods that are steamed, broiled, or grilled instead of deep-frying.
Be Mindful
Although it is tasty, heating and frying oil at high temperatures increases trans fat concentration. On average, the level of trans fat has increased by 3.67 g/100g after heating and by 3.57g/100g after frying. With these numbers, it is more than the recommended intake of grams per day that the WHO recommended.
Final Thoughts
Living a healthy life is necessary if you want to live longer. Cutting some foods that are bad for the healthy is necessary to achieve a healthy life. But we must remember to always think of our future first.
