Hydrogenated Oil
By Dr. Bruce Fife
Because of these dangers, many health organizations have pressured the FDA to enact a regulation requiring food manufactures to include the amount of trans fatty acids on package labels. Before taking this step, however, the FDA waited three years for the Institute of Medicine to study the issue. After a detailed review of all the medical research on trans fatty acids, the Institute of Medicine recently released their findings. They announced that no level of trans fat is safe to consume!
This announcement came as a surprise because usually the Institute of Medicine recommends what they consider to be a safe limit of consumption for toxic food additives. In this case, however, they stated that no level is safe. That means we should avoid trans fatty acids completely.
Where do you find trans fatty acids? Trans fatty acids are found in all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, including margarine and shortening. Partially hydrogenated soybean oil is our most common source of trans fatty acids. Almost every packaged, convenience food in the grocery store contains one or more of these sources of trans fats. Some common food sources for trans fatty acids include bread, cookies, crackers, chips, pies, french fries, pizzas, peanut butter, cake frosting, candy, and ice cream. Read package labels, if it lists partially hydrogenated oil, don’t buy it!
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