Trans Fats

Introduction

Trans fats are a form of dietary fat. Trans fats (also known as “trans-fatty acids”) raise the levels of low-density lipoproteins (LCL)—commonly referred to as “bad” cholesterol. At the same time, trans fats lower high-density lipoproteins (HDL)—the so-called “good” cholesterol. Trans fats also increase the bloodstream's level of triglycerides and aggravate inflammation, severely raising the risk of heart disease. Trans fats also have been associated with many other health problems, including diabetes and dementia.

Nutritionists caution that trans fats are the worst form of dietary fat and recommend that people eliminate trans fats from their diets. In 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized its determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs)—the primary dietary source of artificial trans fats—are not generally recognized as safe for human consumption and set a three-year deadline for food manufacturers to remove PHOs from processed foods. Other countries have also taken steps to limit the availability of trans fats, and in 2018 the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a plan to totally remove trans fats from the global food supply.

Although some trans fats occur naturally, with certain meat and dairy products containing relatively small amounts, these naturally occurring trans fats are not a major health problem. Some studies report that natural trans fats at low levels are not harmful to health and may even be beneficial. The biggest source of trans fats is an industrial process that hydrogenates vegetable oil by reducing most of the carbon bonds in fatty acids with hydrogen, thereby reforming liquid oils into solid fats. Hydrogenated oils provoke the formation of arterial plaque, which coats blood vessels and clogs them.

Partial hydrogenation has been used in deep frying because the process delays spoiling, extending a given amount of oil's useful life. Many premade baked goods (crackers, pies and cakes, and cookies) have been manufactured with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil to extend their shelf life. Creamers, margarines, and snack chips also have been produced using this process for the same reason.

The History of Hydrogenation

The chemistry of hydrogenation was developed during the late 1890s by Paul Sabatier, who was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work. Margarine was developed from his research, as well, as that of the German chemist Wilhelm Normann, who became the first to demonstrate, in 1901, that liquid oils could be hydrogenated. Normann patented his process in 1902, and later built a small-scale fat-hardening factory. The process allowed use of whale and fish oil on a massive scale. Joseph Crosfield & Sons adapted the process to industrial scale at a plant in England, beginning in 1905. Procter & Gamble acquired United States rights from Normann in 1909, developing the Crisco brand of hydrogenated shortening. Crisco was popularized by distribution of free cookbooks that contained recipes requiring Crisco.

Research on the health effects of trans fatty acids began during the 1940s with the work of Russian scientist Catherine Kousmine, who studied cancer. Warnings about trans fats' toxicity did not have much effect at the popular level, however, as their production increased steadily in the United States and Europe until the 1960s. Popular assumptions at the time held that animal fats were more dangerous than manufactured vegetable ones; the unsaturated fats of margarine, for example, were advertised as being healthier than the saturated animal fats in butter.

By the middle 1950s, however, research was beginning to suggest that trans fats, not animal fats, were at least partially responsible for large increases in heart disease rates. Again, the science did not have much impact on most peoples' diets. Quite the contrary: until the 1980s, animal fats were being held responsible for heart disease increases. Phil Sokolof and other food activists mounted campaigns with advertising blaming beef tallow in fast food French fries for heart disease. Several fast food chains dropped animal fats and switched to hydrogenated trans fats.

Trans Fats, Heart Disease, and Other Maladies

Not until the middle 1990s did trans fats fall from dietary grace in the popular mind, after studies linked them with an annual toll of twenty thousand deaths in the United States associated with coronary heart disease. Following the definite link between trans fats and coronary death rates, diets began to change, along with government policies. Several countries required labeling of foods containing them. Crisco, which had begun the trans fat boom many years earlier, reformulated its shortening to contain less than one gram of trans fats per serving in January 2007.

In the meantime, evidence was accumulating that damage from trans fats was not limited to heart disease. In 2003, a study appeared in Archives of Neurology linking saturated fats and trans fats to development of Alzheimer's disease, which also involves accumulation of plaque (in this case, in the brain). Inflammation caused by trans fats also was associated with aggravation of Alzheimer's.

Although some studies have suggestion a correlation between trans fats and cancer, no direct relationship has been established. Studies also suggest that type 2 diabetes may be related to trans fat consumption, but other studies found no direct link.

One study released in 2007 associated a 73 percent increase in ovulatory infertility in women who consumed 2 percent of their daily calories from trans fats. A Spanish study of 12,059 people found that a high level of trans fat consumption was associated with a 48 percent higher risk of depression compared with a control group whose members ate no trans fats at all. Another study, reported in 2012, related dietary trans fat with irritability and aggression, but did not suggest why this was the case.

Regulation of Trans Fats

In 2003, Denmark became the first country to strictly regulate trans fats, at 2 percent of fats and oils meant for human use. Other countries have implemented a similar standard, including Iceland, Switzerland, Hungary, and Austria. Sweden prohibited the use of industrially manufactured trans fats by act of Parliament. The British Medical Journal called for a trans fat ban in the United Kingdom in 2010, a move that it said could save the National Health Service about one billion pounds sterling (US$2 billion) annually in costs. Heath Secretary Andrew Lansley opted for voluntary curbs in 2012, as several fast food chains as well as food processors and grocery conglomerates agreed to participate.

In December 2006, New York City banned trans fats in its restaurants above half a gram per serving, the first such citywide restriction of this type in the United States. The Philadelphia City Council banned them, but allowed an exception for small bakeries. In 2014, Argentina banned food containing trans fats, which the Argentine government estimated would save the country more than US$100 million a year on health-care costs. In 2013, the US FDA issued a tentative determination that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs)—the main dietary source of artificial trans fats—were not generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption. In 2015, the FDA issued its final determination on PHOs, saying that were no longer considered GRAS. The FDA implemented a deadline for food manufacturers to remove all PHOs from food products in the United States by 2018.

The FDA eventually extended the deadline for removing trans fats from existing foods to 2020, though June 18, 2018, remained the cutoff point for trans fat content in any new food products. Other national and international organizations also continued to push to lower trans fat consumption as evidence continued to mount of the health consequences. Most notably, in May 2018 the WHO released a six-step program for totally eliminating industrially produced trans fats from the entire world food supply. The WHO guidelines, known as REPLACE, recommended governments follow a process of reviewing trans fat sources, promoting alternative ingredients, legislating or regulating against trans fat production, assessing and monitoring trans fat content and consumption, creating awareness of the health effects of trans fats, and enforcing regulatory compliance.

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