Trans Fats

4 Most Harmful Ingredients in Packaged Foods

TRANS FATS
Trans fats are in moist bakery muffins and crispy crackers, microwave popcorn and fast-food French fries, even the stick margarine you may rely on as a “heart-healthy” alternative to saturated-fat-laden butter.

Once hailed as a cheap, heart-friendly replacement for butter, lard and coconut oil, trans fats have been denounced by one Harvard nutrition expert as “the biggest food-processing disaster in U.S. history.” Why? Research now reveals trans fats are twice as dangerous for your heart as saturated fat, and cause an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 premature heart disease deaths each year.

Trans fats are worse for your heart than saturated fats because they boost your levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and decrease “good” HDL cholesterol. That’s double trouble for your arteries. And unlike saturated fats, trans fats also raise your levels of artery-clogging lipoprotein and triglycerides.

Check the ingredient list for any of these words: “partially hydrogenated,” “fractionated,” or “hydrogenated” (fully hydrogenated fats are not a heart threat, but some trans fats are mislabeled as “hydrogenated”). The higher up the phrase “partially hydrogenated oil” is on the list of ingredients, the more trans fat the product contains.

Replacing trans fats with good fats could cut your heart attack risk by a whopping 53 percent.

In the above article is a prime example of how something that was once told to be the one hit wonder!  Trans fats were to be the healthy substitute for butter and margarine.  It was literally put into everything.  Now after years have gone by and people have consumed thousands and millions of these items containing trans fats it is ow the absolute worst ingredient in food.  It has been compared to eating plastic, how did the scientist miss this?  Considering heart disease is the leading killer in America, why is trans fats still in our food?  Looks like society is more worried about cost of a item than the potential health risks.

Food and IQ

Processed food linked to lower kids' IQs

 Miriam Falco - CNN Medical Managing Editor

If a 3-year-old eats too much processed food, it might lower his or her  IQ by the age of 8, a new study suggests. Researchers in Britain tracked what 14,000 children ate and drank at the ages of 3, 4, 7, and 8.5 years of age, by asking parents to complete questionnaires detailing their child's diet.

The study authors suggest their study found some evidence that when 3-year-old children eat a diet rich in foods that are high in fat, high in sugar and are processed, their IQ may find a small decrease in their IQ five years later.   On the flip side, this new study suggests eating a healthy, nutrient rich diet may be associated with a small increase in IQ.

Are food and IQ really linked?  When we see raising health issues and increases in learning disabilities including autism don't you think it is only appropriate that we look at our food source.  In the past fifty years health issues and learning disabilities shot through the roof.  What is one thing that has consistently changed in our society?  That is easy our food source.  What was once a trip to the local farm to pick up fresh votable and meat from a steer has turned into shopping at mass corporations who value shelf life of a food.  Don't we want what is best for our children and for them to have the best possible start in life.  Even if fresh foods given a slight increase in IQ the health benefits for the child are so much better.

What diet should you be following?

Unhappy Meals - Michael Pollan - New York Times
Last winter came the news that a low-fat diet, long believed to protect against breast cancer, may do no such thing — this from the monumental, federally financed Women’s Health Initiative, which has also found no link between a low-fat diet and rates ofcoronary disease. The year before we learned that dietary fiber might not, as we had been confidently told, help prevent colon cancer. Just last fall two prestigious studies on omega-3 fats published at the same time presented us with strikingly different conclusions. While the Institute of Medicine stated that “it is uncertain how much these omega-3s contribute to improving health” (and they might do the opposite if you get them from mercury-contaminated fish), a Harvard study declared that simply by eating a couple of servings of fish each week (or by downing enough fish oil), you could cut your risk of dying from a heart attack by more than a third — a stunningly hopeful piece of news. It’s no wonder that omega-3 fatty acids are poised to become the oat bran of 2007, as food scientists micro-encapsulate fish oil and algae oil and blast them into such formerly all-terrestrial foods as bread and tortillas, milk and yogurt and cheese, all of which will soon, you can be sure, sprout fishy new health claims. (Remember the rule?)


The article above is a reminder of the ever changing information that studies produce about food.  The fact is coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans, type II diabetes has in the past thirty years increase forty percent and obesity is at a at time high among youth and adults.  Since the 1980's food has been packaged with slogans of low fat, no trans fat, 100% natural and organic.  Every time we turn around what was once considered healthy now is taboo.  When people started to pay attention to high cholesterol many people stopped eating butter, eggs and anything dairy really.  Now we see commercials about California cheese and eggs are nutritional for you are you getting your daily allowance.  Prime example "Got Milk"

What to Avoid

The article below is I think an example of what to watch for when shopping at the grocery store.  The problem is many of us are uneducated about what processed foods actually are.  I as a student when grocery shopping usually look for what is on sale.  The reality is most of the items that are sale items and cheap have no nutritional value and are processed foods.  A big item among college students Top Ramen or Cup of Noodle which is high sodium, processed and no nutritional value at all.  The article below is a good source of what to look for when shopping.  THink about how many of these items you have in your home.......

Myth: All Processed Food is bad for you

By Worldwidehealth Editor

As you can see processed food can be a great thing but the catch is it CAN be a good thing because some processed food can increase the risk of disease and lack nutritional value. The important thing is to know what to look for when buying your food at the supermarket, because lets face it almost every thing is processed except the fresh produce. Look at the ingredients, if you are going to put food into your body find out what is in the food, take responsibility for you health.

Things to avoid:

• Refined White flour, used in bread and white pasta
• Trans fats
• Canned goods with a high level of sodium
• High-caloric packaged snacks such as: chips, cheese snacks, certain crackers
• High-fat convenience foods such as ravioli, frozen dinners, frozen fish sticks, fast food, starchy pancakes etc...
• Packaged cakes and cookies
• Processed meats: hot dogs, ham, packaged lunch meat
• Sugary breakfast cereals

Good Processed Foods

What Are Processed Foods?

By Shereen Jegtvig

We tend to think of processed foods as bad, but it turns out that some processed foods are not bad for your health at all. For example, milk would be considered a processed food because it's pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to keep fats from separating. Some people prefer raw milk, but it can lead to lead to food-borne illness, so we're happy to consume the healthy "processed" milk we find in our grocery stores.

Another example of good food processing is frozen vegetables. Freezing vegetables preserves vitamins and minerals and makes them convenient to cook and eat all year around. Fruit and vegetable juice is also an example of a healthy processed food. In fact, some orange juice is fortified with calcium to make it even more nutritious. Oatmeal, frozen fish, frozen berries and 100% whole-grain bread are also processed foods that are good.

Of course, there are a lot of processed foods that aren't good for you. Many processed foods are made with trans-fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sodium and sugar. These types of foods should be avoided, or at least eaten sparingly.

After reading this article it really opened my eyes up to how the process of processed foods were intended.  I do think initially processing foods was for the general health of the public.  The way we process milk and vegetables is a prime example as pointed out in the article "What are Processed Foods".  THe reality is something scary happened within the food industry.  The science of processed foods advanced and eating trends changed.  Instead of eating potatoes grown in the ground people moved towards box potatoes.  The shelf life is longer, very quick to make and usually much cheaper, that is one example.  We need to be more educated on good and bad processed foods.

Work Cited: What Are Processed Foods?

By Shereen Jegtvig