Trans fat leads to weight gain even on equal calories (monkeys)

Trans fat leads to weight gain even on equal calories – in monkeys at least

<A diet rich in trans fatty acids leads to abdominal weight gain compared to a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, even when the calorie intake is equal, says a monkey study.

“What is says is that trans fat is worse than anticipated,” said Professor Lawrence Rudel from the Lipid Sciences Research Program at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Abdominal obesity, also known as the ‘apple' body shape, has been reported to be a major risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The new research, presented their results at last week's annual sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Washington DC, indicates that trans fatty acid intake may increase weight gain around the abdomin.

Over six years male monkeys were fed a western-style diet formulated to provide eight percent of the calories from either trans fatty acids or monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) from olive oil. People who eat a lot of fried food, say the researchers, may have trans fatty acid intakes of about eight percent.

The amount of calories fed to the monkeys on both diets was equal and should have been adequate only to maintain weight and not increase it.

But the results showed that the trans fatty acid-rich diet led to a 7.2 percent increase in body weight, while the MUFA diet led to an average weight gain of 1.8 percent.>

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=68646-trans-fatty-acids-diabetes-obese

But they are tasty going down. Usually. Until about an hour or so later.

The verdict's been out on them for a long time - they're just no good for us.

And I thought they weren't even a natural nutrient.

Is it a profit thing? Taste? Production issue? What?

...Unsaturated fats, found in such foods as avocados and olive and corn oils are heart healthy, but in the air they can go rancid by absorbing oxygen and then decompose, C&EN explains. Manufacturers can stop this process by bubbling hydrogen (hydrogenation) through the fat at a high temperature in the presence of a catalyst like nickel and in the absence of oxygen.

The process raises a fat's melting point, turning liquid vegetable oil into products ranging from soft margarine to solid shortening, according to the newsmagazine. When the healthful unsaturated fats are partially hydrogenated, the double bonds are rearranged, converting some to the trans configuration and shifting the double bonds along the chain...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030924055334.htm

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/8138/8138sci4.html

I thought it was something like that.

Manufactured foods like cookies, crackers, bakery items. They're all made with fats that stay solid at room temperature and don't spoil easily. Sounds like they're poison. I'd heard that before.

or at least, on the DVD it did - there was a small video at the end in which he compared trans fat fried french fries with fries fried in non-trans fat oils. The trans fatty fries lasted for weeks, IIRC.

They do this for their convenience, not ours.

<A diet rich in trans fatty acids leads to abdominal weight gain compared to a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, even when the calorie intake is equal>

Same calories!

Now I know why I had put on a few pounds when I temporarily
went off my usual diet. I had been eating basically organic and local foods.
I switched my food source (but ate the same items) for about 8 weeks.
I gained 5 pounds, and it looked to me that it was all in my tummy. (I'm a petite female, so 5 lbs is a big deal on me).
I went back to my original diet recently, and I'm almost back to my perfect weight. Besides, I was feeling
crappy and had bad allergies when I was not eating my food from the Farmer's Market.

Three pieces of chicken equals a weeks recommended comsumption of transfat.

Tiburon, CA.

And neither of our two grocery stores carry WonderBread or any like product.

We ate at a Mexican place there -- really cool town it reminded me of the east coast (oddly enough)

(I don't know why I am so excited that someone mentioned somewhere I have been maybe I need to get out more lol)

To hell with health, who needs that?

It is just wrong....

:>P

I am not that up on this because I personally like to use extra virgin olive oil exclusively, my husband prefers to fry potatoes in wesson type vegetable oil (homefries that type of thing because of the higher heat point with other oils) but I don't care to gain a bunch of weight because I listened to him!

I have never used margarine...anything that tastes that bad cannot possibly be good for you IMO

Can anyone give me the quick sum up for dummies on how to tell what is high in trans fat?