MANILA, Philippines – Nowadays, many of us are getting more health conscious and want to feel and look young and healthy to enjoy longer life.

Explaining why more and more people – consumers, exporters and other businessmen included, are talking about trans fat or trans fatty acid, considered by many as the worst kind of fat for our health. For one, eating trans fat increases the risk of coronary heart disease. Based on one Harvard study, just one gram of trans fat is likely to increase the risk of heart disease by twenty per cent if consumed on a regular daily basis.

One may ask: Where does the trans fat come from? We are not referring here to the kind of naturally occurring trans fat found in small amounts in cabbage, peas, pomegranets or the type found in the meat and milk of cows, sheep and goats. We are referring to the artificial fats created by an industrial process known as “partial hydrogenation.” According to Dr. Bruce Fife, a US certified nutritionist and naturopathic doctor: “Hydrogenation is a process where an unsaturated vegetable oil (like soybean oil) is chemically altered to form a more saturated fat. Hydrogenation involves heating oils to high temperatures while bombarding them with hydrogen atoms thus creating toxic trans fatty acids. These artificial fats are structurally different from natural fats. Our bodies can handle natural fats, but trans fat acids have no place in our bodies and are linked to many health problems.

Trans fat (also known as hydrogenated fat) is found in processed and packaged foods like cookies, crackers, microwave popcorn, French fries, candies, doughnuts, salad dressings, fried snack foods, cakes and other baked foods. According to one report of the United States Department of Agriculture, trans fat are found in about forty percent (40%) of foods in grocery stores.

A question often asked is: How much trans fat should we consume a day? The answer is “as low as possible.” Research has shown that a gram of trans fat is up to ten times more dangerous to heart health than a gram of saturated fat. Many of us are consuming virtually no trans fat because many of us are meticulously selective of what we eat. However, many of us are also recklessly consuming in excess of twenty grams of trans fat per day.

The US FDA ruling on trans fat labels is primarily to alert consumers of the trans fat contents of the processed foods they are buying.

Unfortunately, here in the Philippines we do not have this kind of ruling issued by our Bureau of Food and Drug Administration (BFAD) or any piece of legislation mandating food manufacturers and suppliers to indicate trans fat content in food labels.

One may ask: who started the process known as hydrogenation of edible oils (resulting in trans fat) anyway? The process known as hydrogenation of edible oils was invented by Wilhelm Normann, a German chemist. The process was patented in 1902. In 1909, one well-known food manufacturing company based in Cincinnati purchased the Normann patent and in 1911 came out with the first hydrogenated shortening marketed as Crisco. The marketing of the product was a success with the giving away of free cookbooks for every recipe using Crisco.

With the trans fat labeling rule in US, Americans will be encouraged to make heart-healthy food choices and thereby reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Likewise, we Filipinos should also be concerned about the trans fat content of the food products that we are taking. True, we cannot totally eliminate trans fat entirely from our diet but we can reduce the amount of trans fat in our diets by limiting our intake of foods that contain trans fat. Thus the need to educate Filipino consumers on the importance of lowering their intake of trans fat. Consumer education materials on trans fat should be distributed by the Department of Health (DoH) soonest.

Have a joyful day!