Article #2, May 25, 2002

Fats, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The different type fats and their use by the body can be a confusing and complex subject best understood by a food scientist. Yet the non-technical person faces decisions every day relative to health and fats. If we can identify the Ugly Fats the others become less critical with only a balancing act required.

How did these ugly fats get into the food chain anyway? Nature certainly did not make them. In 1907, with the help of German chemist E. C. Kayser, P&G developed the science of hydrogenation. By adding hydrogen atoms to the fatty acid chain, this revolutionary industrial process transformed liquid cottonseed oil into a solid that resembled lard.

Believe it or not, it all started in Mississippi. In 1905 Procter and Gambill Took steps to gain control of the cottonseed oil business from farm to factory. By 1905, they owned eight cottonseed mills in Mississippi. One of their products, Crisco was a household word for 90 years. The original name was Krispo and was introduced to the public in 1911. Why did they go to the trouble to tamper with the molecular structure of oils? Only one word, money. Certainly not to enhance our health.

How can one little atom of hydrogen be such a disaster? Likely any chemist could give you hundreds of examples of how one-atom changes things drastically. For the non-chemist, consider water, H2O, as compared with H2O2, Hydrogen Peroxide. This simple comparison will give one dramatic example.

The master chemist in the body works 24 hours per day. Everything we eat has to be identified by this master chemist. The food scientist has fooled the greatest chemist in the world by making a distorted fat molecule. These distorted fat molecules are processed and distributed to the cells and organs. This group of modified fat molecules is referred to as trans-fats but usually identified as hydrogenated vegetable oils or partially hydrogenated oils.

Trans-fatty acids change the permeability of cell membranes. They impair the protective barrier around cells, which is vital for keeping cells alive and healthy. This means that some molecules that ordinarily would be kept out of our cells can now get in, while some molecules, which would ordinarily remain in our cells, can now get out. Cell vitality would then diminish. Also, allergic reactions may result, and immune function may be impaired.

The trans-fats have done more to undermine the health of the American people than any other act of the food terrorists. These fats are hidden in tens of thousands of food products that Americans routinely eat every day. The really sad part is that they eat these foods thinking they are helping their health when exactly the opposite is true.

When we consider that the trans-fats have fooled our master chemist, distorted the cell membranes, and unbalanced the essential fatty acids, caused harmone production to be out of balance, is it any wonder that we have millions of sick people taking drugs every day?

I look at the food chemist like a politician. If they were simply stupid, they would occasionally make a mistake in our favor. Hydrogenated oils and trans fatty acids are silent killers. Research studies show conclusively that they cause non-insulin dependent type II diabetes, or hyperinsulinemia. This is a disease which can eventually burn out the pancreas and cause insulin dependent diabetes. These changed molecular oils dramatically increase the risk of coronary heart disease, breast cancer, other types of cancers and auto immune diseases. Over 100 research studies show how harmful these oils are to the human body. However, the mass media and the FDA have largely ignored these findings. In addition, the Commercial Edible Food Industry has suppressed these research findings for years.

The public is becoming increasingly cynical and confused about the role of dietary fats and fatty acids in health, at least partially because of frequent and conflicting media reports on the topic. Many of these reports characterize dietary lipids as "good" or "bad" on the basis of a single disease, but fail to consider their impact on overall health. There is also a tendency to indict individual foods or ingredients as "bad guys of the month" without conveying the fact that disease risk is associated with the total diet over time.

Typically we see fats described with a variety of terms. These are saturated fats, unsaturated fats, poly-unsaturated fats, mono-unsaturated fats, and trans fats.

Nature has never produced bad fats. Only man has created bad fats. These spell disaster within the body and these fats interfere with critical production and balance of health producing hormones.

The subjects of fats and oils in your diet is so vital to good health that you cannot afford to ignore it.

We have been deceived by trusted scientists, doctors, government and the media who have campaigned for the last 40 years to convince us that "saturated" animal fat is harmful and leads to heart disease, cancer and other degenerative conditions. But all along it has been known by competent scientists that margarine and other vegetable oil products are more harmful than the butter and animal fat they replace.

Finally, after all these years, the AHA made the statement that animal fats have no effect on heart disease. Hydrogenated fats are the one to avoid. The hydrogenated process which involves high temperatures and heavy metals creates a fat that will remain solid at room temperature. Trans-fatty acids (TFA's) are fats that are chemically altered to be more solid at room temperature and are as harmful to the heart as saturated fats that clog arteries. Unsaturated fatty acids are heated and treated with solvents. When this happens, the natural chemistry of the fats changes forms, from cis to trans, a distorted chemical configuration that is toxic. The unnatural trans form confuses our body chemistry to do unnatural things.

If you have questions, comments, or different opinions, email wayne@fugitt.com