Taken from the grocery Store, "Earth Fare" website...worth the read!
"Partially Hydrogenated Oils"
In the early part of the 20th century, we discovered that, when you pass hydrogen gas through a liquid polyunsaturated oil in the presence of heat or an electrical current, it miraculously becomes solid.
Hydrogenation was great at stopping oil rancidity and lengthening the shelf life of baked goods, but not so good for our health: these dangerous fats soon crept into baked goods and snacks all across America, keeping them "fresh" for our consumption with something that molecularly resembled plastic more than food.
"Hydrogenating" oil creates nasty trans fats, (trans from the Latin for "across," "beyond" or "opposite side.") Some of the molecules in the oils literally switch sides, making a sweet little round liquid oil into a stiff solid that our bodies just don't know how to handle (you could say the oil crosses over to the dark side!).
Trans fats have been implicated in all kind of serious health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and cancer. Worse than saturated fats, hydrogenated oils in the form of margarine and shortening were initially and ironically offered as healthier alternatives to lard and butter (not the case.)
And even though the FDA started requiring manufacturers to label the amount of trans fats in a product in 2006, they left a loophole: if a product has less than ½ gram of trans fats per serving, the maker of that product can claim it is "Trans Fat free." What a crock of shortening!
GOOD FATS--Coconut Oil, Butter, Olive Oil, Lard (there are others out there too)
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