The Trans-fat Conspiracy

Biker_gal34

thanks Ric thats what I was going to say. I'm a fan of the US, just not sure the consumers are as well protected as they are elsewhere(in some areas of life). I would never have written that!

Pendejo

Every day I seem to discover another one of my staples contains this crap. Now it's Cheerios. I had looked at the label before, but I guess I missed "modified food starch," which is the food industry's way of fooling us into thinking it's OK. It's not - it's trans-fat. I was fully aware for many years to beware of commercial baked and fried foods, but damn: yougurt, Cheerios, ice cream sandwiches, cottage cheese, etc. ?!


Nobody need apologize for badmouthing the U.S. government. Rather than being "of and for the people," it is nothing more now than a lobbyist for Big Business. Any U.S. citizen who still trusts our government to "protect" them from anything is just plain ignorant, which unfortunately includes the majority of our population.

lwedge

It's pretty much the same here BG with the exception of the financial incentives.

One thing I might add. I have picked up products from Frito-Lay that state ; "0% Trans-Fats" on the front and then looked on the back under "Nutrition Facts" and found the 3rd or 4th ingredient being "Hydrogenated Soy Bean Oil" which I am pretty sure is Trans-Fat.

We need to start an international registry for products that mislead the consumer. I have more respect for a product that states the truth; "Hey! We'er Loaded with Trans-Fats !" rather than one that deceives us with marketing beguile.

lw

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Pendejo

As I mentioned above, if a product contains less than .5 grams of trans-fat per serving, they can legally put 0% trans-fat in the percentages. Three or four of such servings per day already puts you at a significantly elevated risk for heart trouble. The U.S. government at work.

Archibald

been finding this stuff everywhere including in gluten free products i've regularly purchased! usual thing, you never notice it til you're looking for it.
but i did find it mentioned in a product that's ingredients had no mention of hydrogenated oils.
i suspect it may be in the maize starch as modified starch is mentioned above as a trans fat.
anyone?

Ideologue

Look out for it in health food shops too. I see products containing it all the time in those places, as well as aspartame, etc., etc.

Topsi1208

The 2 big no-no's I look for are the partially hydrogenated oils & high fructose corn syrup. Both are just awful for the human body. Countries will never outlaw these ingredients but they are used to stabilize foods so they have a longer shelf life. The high fructose corn syrup has even more names than the trans-fats and is harder to detect when reading ingredient lists.

Archibald

any examples?

Archibald

here's one that surprised the hell out of me - i found it in a protein bar!!
trans 0.1g

Topsi1208

I thought this would be easy but when I researched it I couldn't find anything. I did check my protein bars & found "Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil". I'm not sure what that is but if it has to be fractionated, I'm pretty sure its not good. I did find out that High Fructose Corn Syrup is made from a chemical process that changes the basic molecular structure of normal sugar. NO studies have proven that is causes any damage to the human body. I think anything that has to be chemically altered from its natural state is probably not good for you so I will stay away from it as much as possible.

Topsi1208

I had an Endurance Power Bar & it was loaded! YIKES!

Pendejo

Here's an explanation of fractionated palm kernel oil: http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA118473/

As I've mentioned before, I'm infuriated that I've let myself be duped by the food industry and their ally, our U.S. government. I thought I was aware and that I had a healthy diet throughout my adult life, but I was badly wrong. As those of you who are now looking at labels are finding out, transfats (partially hydrogenated oils) seem to be in almost everything, and in many cases very well disguised by deceptive labeling.

As mentioned in a prior entry, there doesn't seem to be other aliases for high fructose corn syrup, so it's easier to spot. This Frankenstein sweetener has been implicated in weight-gain and diabetes, and the jury is still out about other possible health implications. Nobody seems to use real sugar anymore (it's more expensive). For example, try to find a soft drink that doesn't use the HFCS.

In spite of the fact I love eggs and cheese, I've really limited my intake of them for most of my life, because of the supposed high cholesterol risks. Now I think that, too, was nonsense. What's killing so many people is not real food, but all the artificial crap that we've been convinced is the "heart-healthy" alternatives. Look at the French - their diet is loaded with eggs and cheese and dairy, yet they're a lot healthier than we are in the U.S. with much lower rates of obesity. Some say it's the red wine, but I'll wager it's the fact that they don't (yet) have all this artificial crap in their food.

By the way, I checked out Domino's pizza. The dough in their regular ("hand-tossed") crust is fine, as is the pizza sauce they use. However, the cheese they use contains transfats. Their cheddar cheese is OK, but they may charge you extra to use it instead of the regular.

ric_stern/RST

Eating eggs (or cholesterol in food) isn't a problem, it's the cholesterol that's produced within your body when you eat foods that is.

Whenever i go to the supermarket (which is once a week) i'm amazed at the amount cr@p that is available. Pre packaged foods, which when i pick up (generally for recipe ideas) and look at the ingredients has a list of chemicals that sounds horrendous. consequently i rarely buy such foods (maybe a few times a year we resort to such stuff).

Maybe i was spoilt when i was growing up, with my mum having her own catering business and showing me how to cook? but it never seems difficult to cook something fresh and healthy. Whether it's pasta with a fresh tomato sauce (so much nicer than a pre made one) or a risotto, none of it really takes that long to cook and prepare.

French, Italian, Spanish (i'm not sure about other countries) diets they're all so much better than the rubbish people eat in the UK and USA. I'm not sure if people have become lazy or lost the skills that maybe their parents had for cooking. It's such an important skill (cooking), and i don't know if it's taught in schools any longer (i'll find out in a few years when my son goes). I'm going to teach my son how to cook, and show him how much fun it can be.

Real food rules!

Ric

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Topsi1208

Thanks for the info. It is almost to impossible to eliminate all trans-fats & all High Fructose Corn Syrup from our diets since it in almost everything! I really like the convenience of packing a few granola bars for my rides so I will stick to the Kashi TLC Chewy granola bars. They don't have any trans-fat or High Fructose Corn Syrup.