Contents:
- Medical Video: Unsaturated vs Saturated vs Trans Fats, Animation
- What is trans fat?
- How can trans fat be formed?
- What damage does trans fat do in our body?
- What foods contain trans fat?
- Then how do you reduce your trans fat intake?
Medical Video: Unsaturated vs Saturated vs Trans Fats, Animation
Maybe you often hear that trans fats are bad fats. But do you know actually where trans fats come from and are formed? How does trans fat affect body function? Are trans fats evil?
What is trans fat?
Trans fat is a type of fat that is useful for making a product durable, inexpensive, and easy to use. Not only that, trans fats are long-lasting not easily broken down and what's interesting is that these types of fats can make food products taste better. So it is not uncommon for many food manufacturers to use trans fat in their food production. Trans fat has properties such as saturated fat and eating foods containing trans fat can increase the risk of heart disease.
READ ALSO: How and Where Does Body Fat Come From?
How can trans fat be formed?
Actually, trans fat can be formed naturally in the body of an animal, but in small amounts, such as in milk and beef. While trans fats to watch out for are trans-made fats produced by processed products. The process that produces trans fat in food is called the partial hydrogenation process. Partial hydrogenation causes trans fat to change the shape of its chemical bonds and make it more dense and durable.
Usually this partial hydrogenation process is carried out on vegetable oil products. In vegetable oil products, the main purpose of the partial hydrogenation process and then to produce trans fat is to prevent a rancid fast and remain solid at room temperature. Trans fat is a type of unsaturated fat - where it should be good. But because of the partial hydrogenation process carried out, then changing trans fat becomes almost similar to saturated fat, even has worse properties compared to saturated fat.
READ ALSO: Excess fat in the body, where is it stored?
What damage does trans fat do in our body?
Like saturated fat in general, trans fat can cause arteries - the main blood vessels to drain blood flow to the heart - clogged up. If the arteries are blocked, various types of heart disease can occur, whether it's a heart attack or even a stroke.
Trans fat increases bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol. In fact, good cholesterol serves to cleanse the remaining fats in blood vessels that might clog the bloodstream. The impact of consuming saturated fat is not even as bad and as bad as if you consume trans fat. Saturated fat does increase levels of bad cholesterol in the body, but does not cause a decrease in good cholesterol.
The poor impact of trans fat is evidenced in a study involving 80 thousand women. In the study it was found that every 5% increase in consumption of saturated fat would cause an increased risk of heart disease by 17%. However, from the results of the study it was also known that an increase in consumption of trans fat by 2% can actually lead to an increased risk of heart disease by 93%. Even trans fat is estimated to be the main cause of death of 30 thousand people per year in the United States.
READ ALSO: Vegetable Fat Is Not Always Healthier Than Animal Fat
What foods contain trans fat?
It is estimated that 40% of the total food products on supermarkets contain trans fat, although the levels of each product are certainly different. Here are the types of food products that contain trans fat:
- Cake and bread products, such as pastries, pie dough, and crakers usually use vegetable oils through a partial hydrogenation process.
- Various types of snacks
- Fried foods in deep frying, such as fast food, donuts, and french fries.
- Ready-made dough
- Margarine and cream for coffee mixes.
Then how do you reduce your trans fat intake?
Choose good cooking oil, that is, which contains the lowest trans fat, or even does not contain trans fat at all.
Avoid eating fast food, such as various processed foods, canned foods, and fast food.
Always read nutrition labels of each product to be purchased and then see the amount of trans fat in it. In addition, it is better to look at the basic composition of the product whether or not there is 'hydrogenation oil' material or not. Because sometimes a product states that their trans fat is '0 grams' but in the composition of the food there is hydrogenated oil.
