Archive for the ‘transfat’ tag
What you need to know about transfats
Transfat is made by taking vegetable oil, heating it up and putting hydrogen gas bubbles into it. A metal catalyst ( aluminum, cobalt, nickel) is used to help the fusion. It was first discovered around 1900 and put to some of its better known uses as Crisco and margarine.
Early on transfats were sold as a convenience item. They give vegetable oil a much longer shelf life, one of the main reasons for its continued use today. Anything made with oil or fat lasts longer if the transfat version is used instead. After WWI animal fat was scarce so transfats were sold as a substitute for butter in cooking. Later as heart disease increased and was linked to cholesterol transfats were sold as a way to reduce saturated fat in the diet. Lately a trend towards more natural and gourmet food has reduced the use of transfats in most household kitchens and many restaurants.
So what’s the down side? Transfat raises your bad cholesterol and it lowers your good cholesterol. Other fats raise and lower both or leave them unaffected. It is thought to affect insulin levels, and also a hormone family called eicosaniod. This is not one hormone but a family of about 100. Like cholesterol there are good and bad eicosaniods. The amount of fat and type of fat in your daily diet determine how much of the good and bad eicosaniods get produced. These help adjust insulin, how well muscle burns oxygen and whether you burn fat or muscle during your workout.
