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The New Trans Fats—Interesterified Fats

By Jason Yun

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Published: 11Apr2009
Word count: 557
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I’m sure you have heard of trans fats. Absolutely one of the worst things you can put into your body. You can find it in a lot of sweets, pastries, fried foods, popcorn, and a lot of other stuff. You have to be careful with it, cause even if it says ‘trans fat free’ on the package it still could be in there. Yup, it’s a food company loophole. Just watch the ingredients. If it says ‘hydrogenated’, or ‘partially hydrogenated’, in it you can bet there are trans fats in it.

But a lot of companies are going ‘good’, and starting to care about you ‘the consumer’, and not so much about their bottom line. Yeah, right! But a lot of them have started taking trans fats out of their products. But now there is a new kid on the block that you have to watch out for, and it goes by the name of interesterified fats.

What are interesterified fats? Besides being annoying to spell, they are made by taking a solid fat (which would be considered a saturated fat) and combining it with a liquid fat. They do this so the fat acts like a saturated fat in food preparation but does not have the horrible effects of saturated or trans fats on blood cholesterol once it is consumed. That’s what they want you to believe.

However, some studies have already found that they are not that much better than trans fats. It still has been shown to lower HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and raises LDL cholesterol (the bad kind). It also increases your risk for type 2 diabetes by raising blood sugar levels when consumed and lowering insulin levels.

You will probably find them in a lot more products in the near future. Just like trans fats they were created for the extension of packaged foods that you find on the shelves of grocery stores. Good rule of thumb is if it has ingredients that are hard to pronounce it probably is no good for you. Ingredients that are hard to pronounce are usually man made additives that are slowly killing our bodies.

Like I said before food companies are simply changing from one bad thing to another. Interesterified fats are just another cheap way to keep their products on the shelves longer. Anytime you take a fatty acid and alter it’s chemical state and then jam it down someone’s throat you are simply asking for trouble. You never know how it will react with people. Every person is different. How many billions of people are there?

Watch the ingredients! As of right now you won’t see IF fats listed on the food label. You have to look in the ingredients list. It will be listed as oil or a fat. But it still could be hidden: if it says ‘palm oil’, palm kernel oil, or fully hydrogenated vegetable oil it may or may not be in the product. You will find it in a lot of the products that contain, or use to contain trans fats, because it really is another cheap replacement for them. I’m pretty sure though they’re not in oatmeal, chicken breast, brown rice, fruits, and vegetables though. Stick with products like that, with just one ingredient, and you will be fine.

Jason Yun, a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Sports Nutritionist, is a Columbus fitness bootcamp and weight management teacher. To book him to speak at your local Columbus organization please contact him by email at jyun@yunbootcamps.com or by phone at 614-432-9703. For a free 2-week trial to his Bootcamps go to: http://www.yuntraining.com/2weeksfree.html or http://www.yunnutrition.com

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