The World Doesn’t Need Trans Fats

Most of the American food industry stopped using artificial trans fats, a leading cause of heart disease and death globally, well in advance of a federal ban that goes into effect next month, and few consumers noticed the change in their French fries or doughnuts. But these fats are still commonly used in the Middle East, India, Pakistan and elsewhere, which is why it is welcome news that the World Health Organization is calling on countries to phase them out by 2023.

  The Worst Fat in the Food Supply

As strange as it may seem to someone who is not a chemist, the movement of a single hydrogen atom from one side of a molecule to the other can change a simple, naturally occurring food ingredient into a deadly substance. The transformed ingredient I’m speaking of is trans fatty acid, or trans fats as consumers know them, a core component of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. For most of my life, trans fats were prominent in all manner of packaged, bakery and restaurant-prepared foods.

 Food Makers Vow to Cut Trans Fats Globally

World Health Organization to urge governments to ban or restrict those fats, replace them with healthier fats and oils.

 The new global plan to eliminate the most harmful fat in food, explained

The WHO wants to ban a food ingredient that causes 500,000 premature deaths worldwide each year.

 Why it took the FDA nearly 40 years to ban trans fats

The lag between science and policy on trans fats is a fascinating case study in the weird world of health policy-making — and how scientists and industry lobbyists can inadvertently collude to cause unnecessary disease and death. Evidence on the harms of trans fats has been mounting since the 1950s

When Trans Fats Were Healthy

With a new FDA proposal to outlaw trans fats, this may be the end of what was once considered “a great boon to Americans’ arteries.”

Where do trans fats come from, and why are they so bad?

Will somebody please tell me why my cookies are evil?

Butter Is Your Friend But Margarine Wants to Kill You

Turns out that delicious animal fats found in butter, cream, and chocolate are nowhere nearly as bad as we have been brainwashed to believe.

FDA Gives Food Industry Ultimatum: Three Years to Eliminate Artery-Clogging Trans Fats

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday a final three-year timetable to eliminate artificial trans fats from foods in the U.S. The reasoning behind the widely anticipated ban is pretty straightforward. Trans fats, usually added to processed foods via partially hydrogenated oils, the FDA says, are not “generally recognized as safe… for use in human food.” Fish food? Perhaps. But you might want to wait for the science to settle on that one.

Goodbye Trans Fats: What That Really Means for You

Believe it or not, trans fats were once thought to be healthy. During the fat phobia of the '90s, the margarine product that resulted from hydrogenated oils was touted as a healthier substitute for butter.

Health Check: the low-down on trans fats

When you buy commercially baked goods such as pies, pastries, cakes and biscuits, there’s a good likelihood they’ll contain one of the nastier types of fatty acids: trans fats. These unsaturated fats have been chemically altered to give them a longer shelf life and withstand repeated re-heating. Trans fats are produced through hydrogenation, a manufacturing process where hydrogen is added into the fatty acid structure of fats. This stabilises the oil, allowing it to remain solid at room temperature and to be turned into margarine and cooking fat.

The Coming Trans Fat Ban and the Petty Tyranny of the FDA

The FDA, which helped make trans fat use more common, is now seeking to ban trans fats.

The Trans-Fat Ban as a Model of Slow Health Policy

The advocates against trans fats who seemed so crazy even six years ago are seeming a lot less crazy today.

Trans fat is double trouble for your heart health

Trans fat is considered by many doctors to be the worst type of fat you can eat. Unlike other dietary fats, trans fat — also called trans-fatty acids — both raises your LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lowers your HDL ("good") cholesterol.

Trans Fats 101: What, Where, and How to Avoid

Trans fat is found in numerous foods - commercially packaged goods, commercially fried food such as French Fries from some fast food chains, other packaged snacks such as microwaved popcorn as well as in vegetable shortening and some margarine. Indeed, any packaged goods that contains "partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils", "hydrogenated vegetable oils" or "shortening" most likely contain trans fat.

What Food Can Replace Trans Fats' Creamy Goodness?

Fried foods might get off easy; it's relatively easy to find a substitute oil that'll work at high heat. But spreadable products? That's a tougher problem.

When Zero Doesn't Mean Zero: Trans Fats Linger In Food

Turns out it's more than you might think. While many food companies have found affordable alternatives to partially hydrogenated oil, 1 in 10 packaged foods still contain it, according to researchers at the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Will The FDA Trans Fat Ban Really Improve America's Health?

But what will it actually mean for consumers? It may mean more in theory than in practice. Trans fats have fallen out of favor anyway, as most of us are aware of the increasing health concerns – most notably heart risk, but also weight gain and even memory problems – and many may voluntarily avoid them simply by reading labels. Some manufacturers already advertise that their foods do not contain the fats, as selling points.