They are found in industrial bakery, ready meals or snacks. Often consume foods with trans fats increases the risk of CHD.

Trans fatty acids (TFA) or trans fats are unsaturated fats behave like saturated fats. Numerous studies have shown that trans fats are bad for the heart. They are even more dangerous than saturated fats. This type of fat increases bad cholesterol (LDL) and lowers the “protector” (HDL) and may promote cardiovascular disease.

Trans fats in foods

The AGT are of animal origin. They are formed naturally in the milk fat and ruminant meat (beef or lamb).

But they are of plant origin. They are produced in industrial processing of foods with vegetable oils (soybean or sunflower) modified through hydrogenation. This process involves adding hydrogen molecules to the chemical structure of oils to give them a solid consistency. These trans fats “are cheaper, enhance flavor and prolong the life of a number of products”, explained in a report by Consumers Union of Valencia. Its adverse health effect was not known then.

Partially hydrogenated oils

Trans fats are in some industrial bakery products, cookies, margarine, ready meals (croquettes, lasagne, pizza, pies, frozen potatoes), breakfast cereals, candy or snacks (microwave popcorn ) or salty (potato chips). Appear on nutrition labels as partially hydrogenated oils. Its content may vary between 1 and 30 percent, according to a study by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).

Some food businesses are reducing the use of these fats. “Before, margarines contained a notable proportion of trans fats, margarines are now less than 1 percent,” explains Xavier Pinto, a specialist in the Lipid and Arteriosclerosis Bellvitge Hospital in Barcelona.

Trans fatty acids are also formed when cooked with refined oils such as sunflower and soybean to high temperatures.

Just two grams of trans fat per day

European health authorities set the limit of trans fat in 2 percent of total daily energy while the World Health Organization recommends 1 percent. In an average diet of 2,000 to 2,500 calories consumption means a maximum of 2 to 2.5 grams of trans fat per day.

In Spain, consumption of trans fats is lower than in other European Union countries, the report TRANSFAIR. “For the food industry has decreased the content in its products and because we are one of the major producing countries and consuming olive oil, such as Greece and Portugal,” said Xavier Pinto.

Always check label

To know what we buy we must read the nutritional composition of the product labels. Just some brands use the demand for healthy food among the ingredients when oils are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that could be palm, palm kernel or coconut (which are saturated fat).

“Reducing trans fat intake as part of nutrition policy in many countries,” points out the specialist. Since 2006, American companies are required to label the trans fat content in products. Denmark is the first European country since 2004, also requires tag, because its content does not exceed 2 percent.

In Spain there is still a loophole in the labeling of trans fat. There is no law requiring state on the label the content or the amount of trans fats used in industrial food processing. It is expected that the draft Law on Food Safety and Nutrition, located in open court, reduce its use by the food industry. The new legislation limited to a 2 percent maximum levels of these fats in processed foods.

Increased cholesterol

“In the late fifties was known the effect of fats on health. In the two decades after it became clear that saturated fatty acids increased low density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol and polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) decreased them, “says Pinto.

Independent research of the sixties and seventies showed how trans fat also increased the “bad” cholesterol (LDL) cholesterol and reduced the “protective” (HDL). In 1980, at the request of the Netherlands Heart Foundation, assessed the nutritional composition of edible fats, and the amounts of trans fats in some foods.
Current studies on trans fatty acids

Scientists are still researching the trans fats to know their effects on coronary heart disease. Among other issues we want to know “if the trans fat of ruminant and industrial trans fats affect the way in metabolic syndrome.