Why Fats are important?

The first thing to understand about fats is that the essential fatty acids they contain are truly essential. (What are esseential fatty acids) They are the "active ingredient" in every bodily process you can name:

• brain cell function and nervous system activity
• hormones and intra-cellular messengers
• glandular function and immune system operation
• hemoglobin oxygen-transport system

cell wall funtions:

• Passing oxygen into the cell
• passing nutrients into the cell
• keeping foreign bodies out of the cell
• digestive-tract operation
• assimilating nutrients
• blocking out allergies

In short, the essential fatty acids (contained mostly in polyunsatrurated oils_ are the most important nutrients there are -- more important than vitamins, minerals, or even proteins. Because, without them, there is no life. they are the substance and foundation of life energy.

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What is Hydrogentation?

Hydrogenation is the process of heating an oil and passing hydrogen bubbles through it. the fatty acids in the oil then acquire some of the hydrogen, which makes it denser. If you fully hydrogenate, you create a solid (a fat) out of the oil. Burt if you stop part way, you will obtain a semi-solid, partially hydrogenated, oil that has a consistency like butter, only it's a lot cheaper than butter.

Because of that consistency, and because it is cheap, it is a big favorite as a butter substitute among "food" producers. It gives their products a richer flavor and texture, but doesn't cost near as much as it would to add butter. It also adds shelf life to products which have undergone the process.

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What's wrong with hydrogenation?

Unlike butter, hydrogenated oils contain high levels of trans fats. A trans fat is an otherwise normal fatty acid that has been "transmogrified" (tchanged from one appearance, state, or phase to another) by high-heat processing of a free oil. The fatty acids can be double-linked, cross-linked, bond-shifted, twisted, or messed up in avariety of other ways.

The problem with trans fats is that while the "business end" (the chemically active part) is messed up, the "anchor end" (the part that is attached to the cell wall) is unchanged. So they take up their position in the cell wall, like a guard on the fortress wall. But like a bad guard, they don't do their job! they let foreign invaders pass unchallenged, and they stop supplies at the gates instead of letting them in.

In short, trans fats are poisons, just like arsenic or cyanide. They interfere with the metabolic processes of life by taking the place of a natural substance that performs a critical function. And that is the definition of a poison. Your body has no defense against them, because they never even existed in our two billion years of evolution -- so we've never had the need or the opportunity to evolve a defense against them.

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The importance of healthy cell membranes

All cells throughout the human body are enveloped by a membrane composed chiefly of fatty acids. What determines the type of fatty acid in the cell membrane is the type of fat consumed. A cell membrane composed chiefly of saturated fats or trans-fatty acids (mostly from partially hydogenated tropical oils or margarine), differs considerably in structue from a cell membrane composed of essential fatty acids (EFAs). A diet composed of largely saturated fat, animal fatty acids, cholesteerol, and trans fatty acids is going to lead to membranes which are much less fluid in nature than the membranes of a person consuming optimum levels of beneficial omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs.

A relative deficiency of EFAs in cellular membranes makes it virtually impossible for the cell membrane to perform its vital functions. Without a healthy membrane, cells lose their ability to hold water, vital nutrients, and electrolytes. They also lose their ability to communicate with other cells and to be controlled by regulation hormones. They simply do not function properly.

Partially hydrogenated oils will not only kill you in the long term by producing diseases like multiple sclerosis, chronic heart disease, and allergies that lead to arthritis, but in the meantime they will make you fat!

It's not like you have any choice in the matter. Remember that the essential fatty acids are vital to every metabolic function in your body. You will get the quantity of essential fatty acids that you need to sustain life, no matter what. You will not stop being hungry until you do.

If you are consuming lots of saturated fats, you really have no choice but to become fat, because saturated fats contain only small quantities of the polyunsaturated fats that contain the EFAs that you need. The key to being thin, then, is to consume foods containing large amounts of polyunsaturated oils (including fish, olives, nuts, and egg yolks) and don't forget EXERCISE! Over the long term, polyunsaturated oils remove your sense of hunger.

NOTE:

The difference between a "fat" and an "oil" is temperature. A " fat" is a lipid that is solid at room temperature. An "oil" is one that is liquid at room temperature. Both are lipids ("oil/fat"). Change the temperature, and you can convert an oil into a fat, or vice versa.

After closely scrutinizing data from scientific studies and reviews, most European countries have either banned hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils altogether or have instituted future dates for elimination of their use in foods. These government actions concerning the trans fatty acids is directly related to studies tha tlink trans fatty acid consumption from processed foods to the development of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

The US government's official stance on the issue formally changed May 28, 2003 when it strongly urged the Departments of Agriculture and Health &Human Resources to strengthen its language on the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and the detriments of partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) in its dietary guidelines. Our government officially states " that both childhood and adult obesity and the associated chronic health problems such as heart disease are widespread in the United States, and have become one of our nation's most important public health problems and it has encouraged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to finalize a rule to require a product's Nutrition Facts panel to incllude the amount of trans fatty acids present in foods. the goverments also " suggests consuption of trans fatty acids increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and an increase in consumption of omega-3 fatty acids reults in reduced deaths due to CHD."