AnyGivenSunday;1658802 said:
DavidYee,
Very good information.
Thank you for your reply. I'm interested if you know about any studies of how people who ate food with trans fat vs. food without trans fat tastes...
And what are some other studies that have been done to show the effects of trans fats vs. alternatives.
Where does the FDA weigh in on this, and why?
Also, if you could narrow anything else down for me, I would appreciate it. How does man make the fat--why makes it similar to LDL, etc.
...The first studies done on the taste of food in any lengthy amount was done by the makers of Campbell's soup. The purpose was to make a production ready recipe that could be transported to the furthest reaches of the world, be good on the shelves for at least 6 months and taste like grandma made it fresh.
Well the experiment was a total disaster with the exception of one amazing product - MSG. (Monosodium Glutamate) Everything tasted better with it. Actually they found that people's palates became addicted to the taste. So bad that there were numerous media incidents of kids eating the shaker product in the palms of their hands and having their teeth fall out.
The product is well known to the meat industry as a tenderizer - it breaks down tissue.
So the food industry discovers a platform, the MSG platform, with it's savoury and salty flavours that is so addictive,but one problem still remains.
They had also been trying to provide the consumers with a ready to serve meal, but the problems they were finding is that if there wasn't a certain amount of fat in the meals people were not feeling satisfied.
The dilemma was natural fats in production food had a tendency to go rancid. The shelf life was limited. Here comes trans fat. First developed from palm oils for the production pastry business they found ways to crossover the process to soybean oil, which is much cheaper, and blends better with savoury foods such as fries, canned meats, etc.
That leads us to the popular and prevailing tastes out there in the fast food, chips and condiment industry. They all have their roots in a very narrow North American palate developed by the food manufacturers.
If you are looking for the studies on the comparison of the ingestion of transfat vs natural fats look no further than the studies for heart disease, obesity and cancer.
The best information you are going to get is if you talk to an autopsy coroner who has been in the business for at least 40 years. He/She will be able to give a first hand look at what they see is the trending changes they see in people who have expired.
The truth is simple...manufactured food is not healthy for a person. The food your great grandmother was cooking for the family was much healthier. The dilemma for all of us is that there is so little time to prepare and cook food and manufactured food is a tempting option.
FDA has approved most of these processes because the direct short term links are not easily seen. The real issue for much of this is has the recipes of manufactured food been developed to be addictive? FDA approvals are made understanding that the average American is not going to over eat on this single item.
The expectations are that you will only have can of soft drink once a week. A small bag of chips once every two weeks. A can of soup once a week. Canned pasta once a month.A chocolate bar every two weeks and so on and so forth.
These are not suppose to staples of a regular diet, but rather treats to supplement a healthy lifestyle.
On the explanation of transfat. The liquid oil is whipped in a blender until it is hardened to the consistency of floor wax. The process increases the density of the molecules by creating cross links. The cross links can only be broken down by heat. Think of a hard dense fat molecule floating in your belly and crossing over into your bloodstream. NOt good.
As for the effects of LDL in your body the best explanation I have ever seen was given by a noted Physician from America who is now made a name for himself with a set of healthy lifestyle books. His name is Michael Roizen and do look up his videos. They are great at explaining the mechanicals of what LDL does in a body.
Best of health to you.
