In modern stores, many products containing trans fats are sold. Scientists and doctors talk about the harm of this component to human health. How to recognize trans fats? What does this entail? Read more about this in the article.
Concept
What are trans fats? These are artificially synthesized oils. They consist of trans-isomers of unsaturated acids, which, when penetrated into the body, disrupt the absorption of nutrient components. Because of this, the body begins to accumulate toxins and toxins.
What are trans fats compared to regular fats? The second components are harmless to humans, with the exception of gaining excess weight. But trans fats cannot be eaten in large quantities. What does this mean for the body? These components in large quantities cause various ailments.
It should be borne in mind that trans fats are found in products that are manufactured in industry. For example, cooking oil during frying will be a source of harmful substances, so nutritionists advise to eat very little fried food.
Where do they come from?
In the production of semi-finished products, there are restrictions on the use of fats and oils. Fast food fat is cheap, tasteless, and has a long shelf life. If it spoils, the product will taste rancid.
No animal fats are used to prepare such dishes. But then sunflower, cotton, rapeseed, palm and coconut oils can be used. In order for them to have a stable condition and a long shelf life, chemical reactions are used, due to which trans fats are formed.
How do you recognize them?
Many manufacturers hide the content of these components in their products by creating new names. If earlier on packages one could find such names as hydrogenated fats, margarine, saturated fats, now they are practically not found. Now in the composition you can find the following names:
- combined;
- vegetable;
- deep-frying;
- solid vegetable oil;
- trans fatty acids;
- trans fats.
Harm
Why are trans fats dangerous? These substances:
- worsen the activity of the brain and nervous system;
- affect the appearance of vegetative-vascular dystonia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease;
- increase the risk of developing oncology, diabetes mellitus, obesity, decreased immunity.
This is the harm done by trans fats. Almost all countries have norms for the use of these components. The World Health Association has determined that a person's diet should contain no more than 1% trans fat, based on the total energy value... Those who are not indifferent to their health will probably be interested in where these substances are present.
Butter
This product is a major source of trans fat, but only if it bears the “lightweight” label. Such butter contains hydrogenated fat, therefore, with frequent use of spreads, there are consequences such as:
- high cholesterol;
- obesity;
- stomach diseases;
- vascular atherosclerosis.
Vegetable oils
Trans fats - what is it and what products contain it, if it refers to vegetable oils? These are the same harmful components that are undesirable for the body. Olive, sunflower, coconut, palm oils contain only 1% of harmful components.
Most trans fats are formed during frying, because when heated to 190 degrees, the molecular composition of the oils changes. With frequent use of such food, there is a risk of cancer, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.
Margarine
There are many trans fats in this product. For a long time, there were disputes between doctors about which is more harmful - butter or margarine. Some believed that the first product contains saturated digestible fatty acids, which is why they are dangerous. Others have argued that the trans fats in margarine are more harmful.
After numerous studies, it was found that due to a large number harmful components in margarine there is a risk of heart disease, blood vessels, coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis. Therefore, such a product is undesirable.
Mayonnaise
Even an expensive and high-quality product contains trans fats. It is believed that mayonnaise will be natural if its fat content is higher than 15%, and products in modern stores are considered ordinary sauces. The trans fats in mayonnaise are also hazardous to human health.
When choosing a product, you need to pay attention to the packaging: if it is made of polyethylene, then such a product does not comply with GOST standards. Vegetable oils and vinegar present in the composition react with the material and corrode it.
The danger of mayonnaise is as follows:
- slowing down the metabolism;
- obesity;
- negative impact on the work of the heart.
Chocolate
Trans fats - what is it and in what products is it present when it comes to chocolate? Some manufacturers save on the quality of this product by adding stearic or lauric acids instead of cocoa butter, which are these harmful substances.
When they enter the body, they disrupt cellular metabolism, and as a result, metabolic disorders occur. Also, there are problems with the liver, stomach, health worsens. To buy quality chocolate, you need to carefully study the information on the composition of the product on the packaging, and also remember that a quality product is never cheap.
The harm of fast food
Trans fats in fast food have the same negative effect on the body as in other foods. Cheap versions of natural oils are used in the preparation of products for high profit. In the course of research, it was revealed that French fries and chips contain many hazardous substances - 30-40%.
Chebureks, cutlets, fish sticks have a negative effect on the body, since the frying fat on which they were fried before freezing includes hydrogenated oils. Sauces, sausages, canned foods can also contain trans isomers.
Where else are there trans fats?
These components are:
- in baked goods - donuts, muffins, cakes;
- a packaged snack - crackers, chips, fried popcorn;
- fried food - french fries, chicken;
- sweets;
- sauces and ketchups;
- ice cream.
Saturated fats are also unfavorable for the body. The list of products is as follows:
- fatty meat - beef, lamb, pork;
- chicken with skin;
- fatty dairy products;
- butter;
- ice cream;
- palm, coconut oil;
- Salo.
These foods should be consumed in minimum quantities. Because not only trans fats, but also saturated fats can cause health problems. The list of products can be increased depending on the content of the dishes.
Fast food, buns, biscuits, crackers, cakes should be eliminated altogether. They contain vegetable and cooking fats. Moreover, the components exceed the norm, which is especially dangerous for lactating women, since harmful substances enter the child's body with milk. Such food increases the amount of visceral fat, leads to obesity, causes vascular and heart disease, hypertension and stomach problems.
Cleansing the body
It will not be possible to do this in one day, but new cells are formed in place of cells destroyed by trans fats. To speed up this process, it is advisable to eat homemade vegetables and fruits, and also eliminate trans fats.
How to protect yourself from these substances?
What should you do to protect your health from unhealthy fats? Not every person manages to refrain from eating baked goods. But you need to learn to limit yourself in this, because there is no benefit from such food. Certain countries have legal limits for trans fat. In Denmark, since 2003, a law has come into force limiting their number to 2%.
But in the US, many people love fast food, although since 2006, manufacturers have been obliged to indicate the content of trans fats on labels. In Australia, more than 10 years ago, oil production technology was improved. It is not allowed to exceed the rate of hydrogenated fat.
In Russia, no measures are being taken to reduce the amount of trans fats in food. Not all labels contain information on the presence of toxic substances. Therefore, Russians can only independently monitor their health.
- do not purchase margarine, refined vegetable oils and semi-finished products;
- do not visit fast food establishments;
- study information about the composition of products;
- cook food by stewing, boiling, baking, and it is better not to use frying.
Scientists have found that proper nutrition for 2 years cleanses the body, which was rich in trans fats and other dangerous components. Therefore, it is important to eat quality and healthy food, as it is associated with health.
Natural vegetable oils are not harmful, they are beneficial for a healthy metabolism. These fats are needed to support energy balance. They are required for the absorption of vitamins, regulation of hormones and protection from hypothermia. Therefore, every day you need to eat vegetable salads seasoned with unrefined vegetable oil. It is important to remember the benefits of grains and nuts. These foods contain vitamin E, an antioxidant that is needed for the absorption of healthy fats.
Proper nutrition
To reduce your intake of trans fats, you need to eat right:
- food must be prepared at home using natural and fresh ingredients;
- the diet should not have quick and harmful snacks, it is better to replace them with nuts and dried fruits;
- you need to use store sauces less often, it is advisable to cook them yourself;
- deep-fat frying of products should be excluded;
- if you want something sweet, you need to prepare desserts yourself.
Now there are many recipes for cooking healthy dishes... They saturate the body with the necessary substances without harm to health. Proper nutrition is the key to good health and excellent mood.
What are trans isomers?
Where do the trans isomers come from in fats?
1 - Hydrogenation of oils
Most trans isomers in fats are formed as a result of the industrial process of partial hydrogenation of oils (hydrogenation reaction).
This is the process of interaction of fats with hydrogen using a catalyst and at elevated temperatures and pressures. In this case, the addition of hydrogen occurs at the double bonds, they open.
2 - Fats of ruminants
The next source of trans isomers is ruminant fats. Ruminants are cows, goats, sheep. Their meat, milk, butter, cheese contain trans isomers.
They have a special section in the stomach, a scar, where biochemical processes of food digestion take place with the help of special bacteria and enzymes.
3 - Deodorization of oils
Why use hydrogenated fat instead of regular oil?
In addition, vegetable oils contain many polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have very low oxidative stability and quickly deteriorate (go rancid).
At the beginning of the 20th century, a method for the hydrogenation of oils was developed. He made it possible to transform liquid oils into solid ones. Moreover, the process is controlled, and you can stop it at different stages, getting fats for any "taste" and for any task: from soft to very hard.
Natural and artificial trans isomers: what is the difference
How do trans fats affect human health?
The effect of trans fats on the human body has not been studied well enough. But there is a large body of statistical research showing the negative health effects of trans fats.
The influence of some individual trans-isomers has been studied, and both their negative and positive effects have been found. The difficulty lies in the fact that trans isomers are present in fats as a whole set.
What WHO says about trans fats
Trans isomers in food products sold in Russia
What were trans fats replaced with when the restrictions were introduced?
How many trans isomers do finished products contain?
If you are responsible for your health and you are close to a rational approach to nutrition, then our article will be useful for you. After reviewing it, you can find out what trans fats are, what foods they contain and why it is worth reducing their consumption.
Fats are necessary for the body - this is a fact. The work of the endocrine and cardiovascular systems depends on them, but not all fats supplied with food are equally useful and necessary.
Everyone knows that they are divided into animals and plants, and there are also liquid and solid. Let's go a little deeper into the structure of matter and understand where this difference comes from.
Any fat is a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. An acid consists of a carbon chain surrounded by hydrogen atoms. So, if a molecule is completely covered with hydrogen atoms, such an acid is called saturated, respectively, if they are not enough, unsaturated.
Solid fat is a mixture of acids, most of which are saturated. These fats include animal fats. They are represented by products such as butter and lard.
In liquid fat, unsaturated acids occupy a larger volume. Examples of such a product are all vegetable oils and some animal fats such as fish fats.
As you can see, the molecular composition determines physical properties... Liquid oils with a predominance of unsaturated acids are fluid and have a low melting point. Hard - dense and melt at higher temperatures.
Another type of fat can be found in the composition of products - hydrogenated. It is used as a substitute for expensive milk fat. This is a substance of artificial origin, which is obtained mainly from cheap vegetable oils. Under the influence of high temperatures and chemical catalysts, unsaturated acids pick up the missing hydrogen, and liquid fat turns into solid, with all its inherent physical properties.
In the food industry, the production of hydrogenated fats or, as they are also called salomas, is of great importance. Agriculture is unable to fully satisfy the demand of processing enterprises for animal fats. Therefore, artificial analogs are often used instead.
What are trans fats?
Trans fats are byproducts formed as a result of the hydrogenation reaction in the production of salomas. When liquid fat is saturated with hydrogen, not all of its molecules become overgrown with missing atoms. Some of them change their spatial structure, turning into dangerous compounds.
That is, they can not accept hydrogen, but change their shape, turn any of their parts in the other direction. And then we can already talk about the appearance of a trans-isomer - a substance of similar composition, but a different structure.
You can often find another name - " transgenic fats”, But it is not true. Since here we are not talking about the genome, but only about the structure of the molecule.
Trans fats are spatial isomers of fatty acids, the normal molecules that make up natural fats. Only now they have completely different properties, and you cannot call them useful in any way.
Trans fats are found in small amounts in natural oils. They are formed as a result of the activity of bacteria that inhabit the stomach of ruminants. Partially turn into meat and milk. From there they enter the product.
In solid milk fat, their content ranges from 2 to 8%. While in industrially produced hydrogenated oils, their share can grow up to 67%. It is worth noting that artificial and natural trans fats have completely different properties.
History of appearance in nutrition
In the 1890s, the future Nobel laureate P. Sabatier decided to put the hydrogenation reaction into practice. We all already know what came of it. In our country, an attempt to solidify liquid fats was first made by the scientist S. Fokin in 1906.
But the German researcher W. Normann went further. He created industrial equipment that makes it possible to obtain solid fats from liquid oils, and in 1909 he patented his own production technology. In 1911, he sold his patent to a company that put the experience of Procter and Gamble into practice. She created the first of its kind, a dough improver based on hydrogenated cottonseed oil.
Fat hardening is widely used in the food industry. Hydrogenated oils have been added to foods and semi-finished products to maintain structure and maintain their appearance. Artificial fat, in comparison with natural fat, has a higher melting point and does not melt outside the refrigerator. It tastes like butter, so it can significantly "refine" the product.
Hydrogenation began to be used for more mundane purposes. Thanks to her, the shelf life of perishable products has increased. Since solid fat contains fewer unsaturated molecules, it is heavily oxidized, and therefore does not deteriorate for a long time. Hydrogenation began to be used to preserve valuable products such as whale oil.
Why are trans fats dangerous for the human body?
Trans fats have the ability to replace lipids that are part of the cell membrane, disrupting its structure. The affected cell loses its ability to fully feed and remove harmful substances. Subsequently, it ceases to fulfill its function. When there are a lot of such cells, it begins to affect the functioning of the organ or even the whole system.
Consuming trans fats leads to metabolic disorders and the accumulation of toxins.
All this can be the cause of any disease.
To the question "How to remove trans fats from the body?", You can immediately answer - in no way. They are not displayed on their own. Their utilization is possible only together with the affected cells. All tissues of our body are constantly renewed. Some cells die, others appear. Only thanks to this process, the body is cleansed over time, provided that dangerous isomers do not enter it again.
What diseases can transgenic fats cause?
In the 1990s, publications began to appear on the topic of the influence of trans fats. It was found that the use of products containing such components, in the first place, negatively affects the work of the heart and blood vessels.
Trans fats upset the balance between "bad" and "good" cholesterol. This equilibrium shifts towards heavy molecules. They are able to form conglomerates, which subsequently adhere to the walls of blood vessels and narrow their lumen.
With the accumulation of "bad" cholesterol in the body, the risk of developing:
- heart attack;
- stroke;
- ischemic heart disease;
- atherosclerosis;
- diabetes;
- obesity.
It has been estimated that more than 20,000 deaths per year are recorded in the United States due to diseases caused by eating trans fats.
Some studies show that the presence of these components in the body of the expectant mother can provoke mutations in the fetus' genome.
As you know, sex hormones are formed from low molecular weight cholesterol. A shift in balance towards large molecules leads to disruption of the reproductive system, which can ultimately result in infertility.
The accumulation of carcinogens in the body increases the risk of developing cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and depression.
Correlation with obesity
There is an indirect link between excessive consumption of trans fats and obesity. Against the background of a violation of the cholesterol balance, changes occur in the endocrine system. Due to the lack of hormones, the process of lipid utilization is inhibited. Fats begin to be deposited in tissues, which can subsequently threaten obesity.
According to the WHO, the number of overweight people has doubled over the past 20 years, and trans fats play an important role in these statistics.
Trans fats and modern kids
Today's children are spending more and more time outside the home. This directly affects their eating behavior. With this lifestyle, snacks on the go between sessions are becoming the norm. To make up for the lack of energy, the child subconsciously seeks to eat something high in calories. Advertising also plays a role. Instead of wholesome food, he chooses snacks, sugary bars, or junk food.
Most of what is sold in fast food restaurants contains hydrogenated oils, and with them trans fats. Food from fast food not only satisfies the need for food, but also causes irreparable harm to health.
Most of the snacks so loved by children: popcorn, chips, quick breakfasts are replete with trans fats. Fighting improper eating behavior is necessary, first of all, by eradicating the habit of eating on the go.
List of foods containing trans fats:
We remind you that trans fats can also be found in natural products in insignificant amounts, but they have a completely different composition in natural oils. There are a huge number of trans isomers, but the effect on the body of only a few of them has been studied.
The most harmful oils are found in hard margarines and cooking oils. There their share reaches from 18 to 67%. Below is a list of foods containing trans fats. After reading it, you will have a better idea of what it is about.
Trans fats in butter
In natural butter made exclusively from milk cream, the content of natural trans isomers is in the range of 1.6-6.8%. These are non-artificial trans fats, their effect does not have a detrimental effect on the body.
It is worth paying attention to the labels on the packaging. The product should be called "butter", consist of milk cream and have a fat content of 78 to 82%.
Trans fats in vegetable oils
Refined vegetable oil contains less than 1% natural trans fats, which are also safe to eat. It is useful to use these oils fresh, adding to salads.
Trans fats in margarine
This category includes the most dangerous foods in which the content of trans fats is especially high. Most of the confectionery products are prepared on the basis of margarines (cookies, waffles, cakes, rolls, sweets, etc.).
On the labels of such products, it may be referred to as:
- cooking oil;
- milk fat substitute;
- hydrogenated fat;
- Palm oil;
- a mixture of vegetable oils;
- spread.
For home use, instead of margarine, it is better to purchase refined vegetable oil for frying, ghee or butter for baking.
Trans fats in mayonnaise
Natural vegetable oil in mayonnaise and any other industrial sauces can be partially or completely replaced with hydrogenated oil, which will provide the product with a long shelf life.
Trans fats in chocolate
In sweet bars, expensive cocoa butter is replaced with low-quality hydrogenated fat to reduce the cost of the product. It also raises the melting point of the tile, preventing it from melting in the heat.
The expression “melts in your mouth, not in your hands” has nothing to do with good chocolate. The real one must melt in the hands.
"Fast food"
Any semi-finished products are prepared using hardened fats containing trans isomers. Even seemingly simple burger buns are actually not all that harmless. As proof, one can cite the fact that they can be stored for six months. And all thanks to the "nuclear" composition.
Meat semi-finished products and sauces are also protected from spoilage and loss of appearance due to the inclusion of hydrogenated fats in them.
Deep fat products
Trans fats are formed as a result of frying food in low-quality, unrefined vegetable oil. The harm increases significantly if the fat for frying does not change on time.
Fast food restaurants offer dishes from this category such as:
- French fries;
- donuts;
- nuggets;
- fish sticks;
- deep-fried squid rings.
Other products
What foods contain trans fats other than those listed above? Junk food includes roasted peanuts and popcorn. Solid vegetable fats are present in sausages, semi-finished products, and ready-made frozen meals.
Why do trans fats continue to be used?
It would be more correct to say that they do not use trans fats, but hydrogenated fats, since trans isomers are only a by-product in their production. Industrial companies are not aiming to get trans fats. They make solid fats from liquid fats, but due to the low quality of the feedstock, a large amount of harmful impurities is formed.
The modern food industry is unlikely to be able to abandon hydrogenated fats. There is a great need for them. These fats cannot be replaced with the same amount of natural solid oils.
There are economic benefits to using margarines. Products with them are stored longer, keep their shape better, are cheaper. Therefore, it remains to be hoped that industrialists will begin to take a more careful approach to the choice of raw materials for the manufacture of artificial fats.
Since the 2000s, Europe has been actively fighting against the content of trans fats in products at the state level. They are completely banned in countries such as Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland. Europe is gradually moving towards abandoning the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in products, which contain the most dangerous isomers.
In our country, there is a GOST, according to which the proportion of harmful components in solid fats should be limited to 8%. But with the formation of the Customs Union, this document lost its mandatory character, since neighboring countries are not ready to fulfill this condition due to the low technical equipment of their food enterprises.
How can you reduce your trans fat intake?
To do this, it is necessary to minimize the consumption of ready-made and industrially processed food. Buy fresh, raw, organic products and cook from them yourself.
When cooking oil is heated, trans fats can also form. Therefore, it is better to replace such a method of cooking food as frying by stewing, boiling and baking.
Changing habits and lifestyle
You can improve your quality of life by eliminating the bad habit of snacking on the go.
If there is a need to eat something, but there is no time to cook or eat thoroughly, then it is better to have a snack, but using healthy products:
- fruit;
- dried fruits;
- nuts;
- yoghurts;
- cottage cheese.
At home, also try to cook natural food without industrial sauces. The same mayonnaise can be replaced with sour cream, which is more beneficial and less harmful.
We hope you find this information useful. Now, when you buy groceries, you will be making an informed choice.
Most of the population has no idea what spenders are, despite the fact that every day there is a huge amount of them in the diet.
They are of no use to the human body. Rather, they can be harmful. Therefore, it is necessary to understand which foods contain trans fats in order to adjust the diet.
Trans fat is a synthetic fat. It is made from common vegetable oil and hydrogen. Hydrogen molecules transform butter into a solid state, that is, the usual margarine. It does not occur in the natural environment.
Margarine has always been considered a cheap analogue of butter, since its cost is several times cheaper than a butter product. Margarine does not pose any particular danger to the body.
It is dangerous when twisting of two molecules is made from the original product. The product has a different transformation, which is a by-product of margarine.
The human body can only digest fats of natural origin, which is why spenders are so dangerous. The body simply cannot assimilate them and this may cause discomfort. The body as a whole can be disrupted by the accumulation of large amounts of such inorganic fats.
Foods that contain spenders can trigger the development of cancerous tumors. And also weaken the human immune system.
Products containing spenders
In European countries, they have long learned to make margarine without twisting molecules, therefore, in European and Western products, the content of inorganic fats is reduced to the very minimum. Our country has not yet switched to new production technologies. Therefore, it is important to know where trans fats are kept.
Inorganic fat is not specially produced by anyone, it is a by-product that is obtained from the production of solid fats.
Russian legislation does not oblige manufacturers to indicate the presence of trans fats in products. Therefore, consumers have to independently study the packaging and appearance of the product being sold.
Dairy products with trans fats?
Most dairy products contain these fats. Due to their presence, the dairy product does not lose its shape. The presence of fat can be determined by the composition.
The manufacturer may indicate that the formulation contains margarine, vegetable fat or hydrogenated fat. Rest assured that this product contains trans fat. It is better to refrain from such a purchase.
By appearance, you can guess that trans fat was used in the production. A product that is hard, thick and likely contains this inorganic fat.
Margarine is trans fat!
All foods that contain margarine therefore contain trans fats. Here is a small list of foods in which there is a large amount of trans fats:
Bakery products. All manufacturers make baked goods based on margarine. So that their cost is low.
Fast food. Buns, cutlets in fast food restaurants have trans fats. Thus, fast food chains offer the consumer quick and cheap snacks.
Milk products. This is mayonnaise, sour cream, ice cream. This is where trans fat is added to give the product a thick consistency. And the product retained its appearance, did not spread.
Chips, French fries, many believe that they are made using trans fats. However, this is not true. It's just that fast food itself has always been considered not good food for humans.
Trans fats do not have the best effect on the body. Since our body does not know how to distinguish natural from synthetic fat, trans fat is poorly digested and remains on the walls of internal tissues, which can adversely affect health.
Minimum consumption of trans fats
The risk of ingestion of synthetic fat should be reduced to a minimum. To do this, you need to carefully study the composition of the products that you purchase. Also pay attention to the appearance of the product. If it seems to you that the product has a synthetic substance, then refuse to purchase.
Scientists have long proven that synthetic fat is not recommended for consumption. Therefore, most Western and European manufacturers have abandoned the production of products based on solid fats. And Russian manufacturers still use trans fat to save costs.
Healthier and normal functioning of the body depends only on you. Try to consume foods that only benefit your body.
Photos of trans fats
Everyone who cares about healthy and balanced nutrition a person needs to know what it is trans fats why they are dangerous for metabolic processes, why they contribute to a set of extra pounds and obesity. It is equally important to pay attention to which foods are rich in trans fats.
These are modified molecules that appear in vegetable unsaturated fats as a result of heat treatment. A small concentration of trans fats is also present in nature, but increases when a substance reacts with water. Their number can increase up to twenty, and sometimes up to fifty percent. The champions in the content of such modified compounds are fast food and convenience foods.
Trans fats, as has been proven in numerous studies, do not bring benefits to the body, but rather the opposite. They disrupt the metabolic function, which leads to obesity and deterioration or development of various diseases of the circulatory system, heart muscle.
How do trans fats appear?
The main feature of semi-finished products is their relative cheapness. This is reflected in the choice of oils and fats for the production of this category of products. If they are not tasteless, inexpensive, and have a long shelf life, they will quickly deteriorate and give fast food a bitter and unpleasant taste.
There is no animal fat in such products. They are being replaced by sunflower, rapeseed, cottonseed, palm or coconut. To achieve a consistently long shelf life, various chemical reactions are used, the result of which is the appearance of trans fats.
Margarine
With the introduction of this product, the history of trans fats began. This cheaper analogue of butter was developed on the basis of the technology introduced in 1901, which consists in the ability to solidify liquid vegetable oils. This was made possible by the use of nitrous acid and the passage of hydrogen bubbles through the heated oil.
The production of cheap and long shelf life margarine has revolutionized the food industry. It entered the familiar grocery list during the food shortages that people experienced during World War II.
Why are dangerous trans fats used in the food industry?
High heat treatment affects the fat molecules. The chemical formula and the number of elements remain unchanged, but one or more atoms create a different compound, which leads to the formation of the trans isomer, called "trans fats".
This change also occurs with conventional frying. This makes some oils more suitable for frying than others. For a long time, it was believed that trans fats were no different from ordinary ones. Opposite information began to appear only in the nineties of the last century.
The modified molecules lead to disruption of the metabolic processes of fatty acids. Research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health has shown that two percent of total calories from trans fats is enough to trigger coronary artery disease in a person.
Fatty acids are involved in the synthesis of sex hormones, therefore, with the use of trans fats, the concentration of testosterone can be reduced. In addition, insulin synthesis deteriorates, which entails increased deposition of calories in the subcutaneous fat layer.
Trans fats in margarine
The amount of trans fats, until they were considered dangerous for humans, in soft margarine varieties was 10-20%, and in hard ones it reached 40%. Today, both in the United States and in a number of European countries, there is a limitation according to which the amount of trans fats from the total amount of fat in a product should not exceed 2%.
Russia and the countries of Latin America are not among them. On their territory, not only are there no restrictions on the content of trans fats, but, unlike the USA and Europe, their exact number may not even be indicated in the composition.
What foods contain trans fats?
They are present in food fried in oil, products that contain margarine. This sausage, baked goods, ready-made desserts, ice cream, dry cream, sauces, chicken wings, chips, fries and others.
Fast food- it's not only trans fats, but also a huge amount of useless calories stored in fat. To get rid of the calories contained in a packet of chips, you need to run about ten and a half kilometers.
Trans fats formed in the process of thermal and chemical processing have a negative effect on health, which has led to the limitation of their amount at the legislative level in many countries. Most trans fats are found in margarine and fried foods.