US orders ban on 'unsafe' trans-fats-gctid153798

[Ajamu]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33154168

US orders ban on 'unsafe' trans-fats

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•    16 June 2015
• From the section US & Canada
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Trans-fats are unsafe to eat and must be banned from the food supply within three years, US regulators have said.

The  US Food and Drug Administration said partially hydrogenated oils  (PHOs), the main source of trans-fats, are not "generally recognised as  safe".

It said a ban would save lives by preventing fatal heart attacks.

Food  suppliers have been required to show trans-fats information on food  labels since 2006 but health experts say Americans still consume too  much.

"The FDA's action on this major source of artificial  trans-fat demonstrates the agency's commitment to the heart health of  all Americans," said FDA's Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff.

"This action is expected to reduce coronary heart disease and prevent thounited snakesnds of fatal heart attacks every year."

                                                               Manufacturers will have three years to get rid of trans-fats                                      

War on trans-fats


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• made by pumping vegetable oils with hydrogen which makes them solids or semi-solids
• eating trans-fats took off in the 1970s when margarine became popular
• popular foods that may have trans-fats: French fries, fried meats, frosting
• cheap to produce with a long shelf life
• World Health Organization calls them 'toxic'
• many companies already working to remove them from foods

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Since the FDA started labelling trans-fats, the agency estimates that consumption of them decreased by 78% in the US.

The UK has been calling for a ban on trans-fats for several years.

In Denmark, almost all trans-fats have been banned since 2003.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

"They manufacture disease, create sickness. Then they rent you the cure for the symptoms, to them it's just business."

stic.man of Dead Prez, "Fear Not the Revolution"

[Ajamu]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/this-kind-of-fat-messes-with-your-memory/ar-AAbIprW#image=1

 This Kind of Fat Messes With Your Memory

              Time              
                             Alice Park          7 hrs ago
 
The latest study gives support to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to phase out the fats in three years. In a report published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One,  researchers say that eating any amount of trans fats, such as those  found in processed baked goods and cookies and some margarines, can  wreak havoc on your memory.

Dr. Beatrice Golomb, professor of  medicine at University of California San Diego, and her colleagues  analyzed diet information on 1018 healthy men and women who were part of  a study on cholesterol-lowering drugs. The participants answered  detailed information about what they ate, including how their food was  prepared, and the scientists then calculated the amount of trans fats  the volunteers consumed based on their responses. Each participant also  took part in a word recall test to measure their memory; they were  presented with a series of word cards; the first time they saw a set of  104 cards, then they saw another set in which only 22 words remained the  same, and were asked to identify which were new and which were repeats.

MORE:This Is Why FDA Is Banning Trans Fats

When  the researchers matched up trans fat consumption with performance on  the memory test, they found that those with the highest trans fat in  their diet labeled the most words incorrectly. And, this effect seemed  to be worse among younger volunteers than older ones.

“These  results fit with other work showing that trans fats are key to brain  function, including mood and behavior,” says Golomb. “And now we have  another outcome showing that they adversely impair cell energy and  oxidative stress.”

MORE:You’re Eating More Trans Fat Than You Think, Study Finds

While  her study didn’t delve into how the trans fats are impeding memory,  there is ample evidence that trans fats promote oxidative damage to  cells. The presence of the fats can lead to a higher level of unstable  oxygen molecules which can in turn destabilize DNA, proteins and other  fats, prompting affected cells to die off. Some studies show that the  memory center of the brain, in the hippocampus, is particularly  vulnerable to such changes, which could explain the results Golomb saw.

The  fact that the younger participants seemed to show worse effects than  older ones may simply reflect the fact that older people are already  experiencing declines in memory due to other, cumulative effects of  brain injury, from poor sleep to a lifetime of traumatic injuries. In  older people, the difference in memory changes won’t be as robust as  they are in younger people.

MORE:Trans Fats Are Hiding All Over Your Grocery List

Essentially,  for every gram per day of dietary trans fat the participants ate, the  volunteers were able to accurately recall 0.76 fewer words. The FDA  currently allows companies whose products contain 0.5g of trans fats to  label them as having zero trans fats; even if a person eats eight such  products (a reasonable amount, considering they’re found in canned  chili, frozen cheesecake and popcorn) for a total of 8g of trans fats,  that would mean they might remember three fewer words on the memory test  on average. “That association does not appear to be tiny in my view,”  says Golomb.

“There is no good consumption or exposure level;  there is no positive purpose in my view of trans fat consumption,” says  Gololmb.

The FDA, it seems, finally agrees.

[Nana]

Please don't start in eating butter now.