Partially Hydrogenated Oils a Villain to Health?

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Hydrogenated oils are widely used in processed foods in America.  They are just one of many reasons to avoid processed foods.  Hydrogenation of oils is used in the food industry for the sole purpose of prolonging the shelf life of processed foods.

Hydrogenated oils are oils that start out as healthier polyunsaturated fats but through a chemical process, they turn into solid, unhealthy trans fats.  Hydrogenation basically means taking liquid vegetable oil and combining it with hydrogen gas to make it a solid or semi-solid.  Essentially, this is a man-made fat, and in general I prefer to stick with what nature gives us.  The American Heart Association recommends limiting your consumption of trans fats to less than 1 percent of your daily total calories.  These fats raise your bad cholesterol while lowering your good cholesterol.

Most European countries have banned trans fats all together or set dates in which they plan to implement a ban.

The reason I tend to shy away from man-made food is because it's new and relatively unproven.  In the course of history, most of our whole foods are foods we have eaten for hundreds of thousands of years and longer.  When you think of it in that scope, why would we want to consume food that has been around for 50, 25, or even 10 years?  When we change the molecular structure of oil into a form that our bodies have never had to deal with before, common sense tells me that this is a dangerous and risky behavior.  It could be okay, but it is more than likely going to have health ramifications and when you look at it like that, what's the point in taking the risk?  I'd rather stick with foods that have a very long, proven positive track record.

Additionally, the hydrogenation process uses toxic metals like nickel, cobalt and others.  The more you learn, the more you want to get this out of your diet ASAP.

Under FDA regulations, "if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram [of trans fat], the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero."  So the processed foods that prominently display "zero grams trans fat" on their packaging may, in fact, contain trans fats.  There's something about this that upsets me to my core.  To produce foods known to be harmful to human health is one thing, but to blantantly trick consumers into buying a product that you know actually contains trans fat by telling them it doesn't is appalling and something all too common in our current food system.  We should be angry!  We're being duped...on purpose!

This is pretty much the most in-depth article I've ever read on hydrogenated oils so if you're hungry for more, it's a great article to read.