THE SKINNY ON FAT PART TWO

TRANS FATS

At the top of the list for bad fats are the hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils called TFA (as opposed to the cis isomer for you chemists out there) because of a special orientation of hydrogen atoms across certain carbon-carbon bonds within the molecule. Dr Mozaffarian of Harvard University claims: There is very good evidence for trans fats causing heart disease, and sudden death. There is growing evidence for diabetes and weight gain.Theyare in a category by themselves as being uniquely dangerous to the human body and its cellular components. He has even suggested that they be re-categorized as food additives and be treated as a chemical additive with much greater restriction. That is why I have them listed first with a big box bullet. Some European countries have gone so far as to ban them altogether: witness Denmark in 2003 banning all TFA in the country.[1] They also banned thimerosal in vaccines. Do they know something our Elites are not telling us? Yes, let’s hear it for the Danes.

The otherwise poorly advised Bloomberg banned hydrogenated fats in New York in 2007. That was a good move since it may have been the stimulus to get the FDA to re-examine the health issues regarding TFA. The FDA has recently announced (2013) that a phase out of all TFA from the food supply will commence sometime in the future. However, Bloomberg’s ban on high capacity soft drinks while keeping large bottles of carcinogen rich, excitotoxic, NutraSweet® flavored soda on the shelves is an exercise in stupidity. With his largess you would have thought he’d be paying for top notch nutritional advice. Instead he gets JV team registered dietician diatribe. Just goes to show that the rich aren’t smarter (just luckier), aren’t better looking (inverse relationship here), and their jokes aren’t funnier unless you’re dating his daughter or he’s loaning you money. As Bugs Bunny would say: “Ahh what a maroon.”

TFA are unhealthy because they possess unique structural features-the trans configuration-as I already mentioned. The fact that cell membranes of higher order animals have never encountered TFA in any appreciable amount in a billion years of evolution means that they are foreign to living animals. It also means several health implications should we start stuffing ourselves with these compounds. One such effect is that they inhibit the formation of eicosanoids (hormones essential for wellness) which I discuss later in this chapter. For now just make note of the delta 6 desaturase enzyme or D6D enzyme.

They are essential Omega-6 fatty acids that have been transformed by a commercial process (known as hydrogenation) into a new spatial configuration that is more stable to prevent oxidation. The increased stability of these fatty acids makes them ideal for processed foods, but also makes trans fatty acids strong inhibitors of the delta-6-desaturase enzyme. Trans fatty acids occupy the active site of the delta-6-desaturase enzyme, thus preventing the formation of the activated essential fatty acids required for eicosanoid synthesis. In essence, trans fatty acids can be viewed as anti-essential fatty acids because of their inhibition of eicosanoid synthesis. This may be the reason why they are strongly implicated in the development of heart disease.[2] [Emphasis mine].

They also interfere with building cell walls. Because of their trans configuration they change the fluidity of the wall making it stiffer. Try to imagine the cell wall as a membrane made of FA. The cell wall-on virtually any cell in the body-is an enormously complex, fluid-like, semipermeable, waterproof, barrier. On the outside of the cell there is a sea of fatty, hydrophobic (water fearing) material, hydrophilic (water loving) tails on the inside, with islands of proteins and cholesterol rafts floating on this membrane. Your body must make its cells from whatever raw materials are available. If you eat a high percentage of Industrial Dinners the only raw materials available will be either TFA or Ω6PUFA. The end result is a ramshackle attempt at making a cell wall, not unlike going to Menard’s and purchasing rotten, warped lumber for your new goose pen. Overnight half of your geese are gone and a third are stuck in the fence. Similarly, ions and macromolecules have a tougher time getting into and out of these TFA clogged cell walls or ions may leak into or out of the cell when they are not supposed to. When a sticky solid like a TFA is added into the cell wall it completely disrupts the functional properties of that cell. Now imagine if you constantly eat Industrial Dinners rich in TFA. In no time at all it would be akin to taking you into the Nabisco plant, and tossing you into their “hydrogenator” making human Crisco®. Now try to imagine how in the world your body is supposed to operate with everything all gluey and slipshod. Like adding corn syrup to your gas tank, at some point way before your cells terminate, they would become highly abnormal, dysfunctional cells that now threaten your health in several astonishing ways.

These lipids are toxic to the endothelium. Studies demonstrate that diets high in TFA lead to a higher incidence of CHD mortality and heart attack. As far back as 1999 scientists found that TFA increased the movement of calcium ions into endothelial cells in the presence of magnesium deficiency: this excess calcium can trigger inflammation within the blood vessel.[3] TFA also interfere with insulin binding to their receptors therefore worsening diabetes.[4] Worsening of diabetes means higher fasting insulin levels and therefore greater inflammation. Let’s examine a regularly occurring event within the confines of the CSCS: we have the elderly diabetic patient who, following her doctor’s advice, is the one that avoids “bad” saturated fats in preference for non-dairy creamer and margarine both rich sources for TFA. This patient gets much more for her money when she sticks to badly outdated advice and uses approved processed foods from Sick Food Stores:

Here’s another bad attempt at rhyming:

TFA with MSG

Another form of dysergy

Dr Kate Collison found that when MSG combined with TFA in normal dietary amounts (such as that seen in processed foods) several things happened to the test subjects: memory was impaired, there was an increase in abdominal obesity and elevation of total cholesterol, lowering of HDL and raising of LDL compatible with worsening of the metabolic syndrome.[5] This warns us of the way many food additives, chemicals and toxins “hook up” to create super toxicities. Later we’ll cover these in greater detail-I refer to them as a form of bad synergy, dysergy.

When scientists wish to know if certain inflammatory cells like monocytes and macrophages have been activated they can check the patient’s blood looking for the chemicals these cells use to communicate. There are literally hundreds of these cytokines and several acute phase reactants as they like to call them. Of the below list the CRP is now a standard inflammatory marker used to assess the patient’s cardiac status-the level of inflammation in his or her blood vessels.

A study led by Dr Mozaffarian shows the dangers of consuming TFA isocalorically (calorie for calorie) in exchange for carbs, saturated fat, monosaturated fat or polyunsaturated fat. Every 2% increase in the consumption of TFA led to a 20-32% higher risk of myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease (CHD) death. This clearly shows how dangerous hydrogenated fats are by massively increasing inflammation as seen by rising levels of serum inflammatory markers TNF-alpha, IL-6 and CRP:

….proinflammatory effects… [upward arrow=increase] tumor necrosis factor-alpha activity, [upward arrow] interleukin-6, [upward arrow] C-reactive protein and endothelial dysfunction. …TFA may also worsen insulin sensitivity, particularly among individuals predisposed to insulin resistance; possible effects on weight gain and diabetes incidence require further confirmation. ^[6]

Dr Mozaffarian’ s study from above shows us there is more evidence that TFA are endothelial toxins: as well as producing increased levels of TNFα (tumor necrosis factor alpha) an inflammatory cytokine that may be linked to heart disease,[7] we also see increased levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin-6, C-reactive protein (CRP) and evidence of endothelial dysfunction as well.[8]

The damage is not limited to the cardiac system. As we see below consumption of both TFA and omega 6 fats also increases brain inflammation:

In addition, studies have clearly shown that consumption of these fats [Ω6 PUFA and TFA] in excess dramatically increases one’s risk of a neurodegenerative disorder. This explains, in part, the frightening increase in a number of neurological diseases in the United States, as well as the fact that they are occurring in people at younger ages than in the past.[9]

 The neurodegenerative disorders include many different diseases. There are three that are increasing at a frightening pace. I call them the Gang of Three: Alzheimer’s disease (AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and ALS. Autism could be considered the fourth gang member.

TFA have been shown to damage brain synapses especially when combined with excitotoxins such as MSG.[10] Some other effects are:[11]

ü  Increase blood levels of Lp(a) — a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.

ü  Decreases the cream volume in lactation milk, even in humans.

ü  Causes lower birth weight in humans.

ü  Causes insulin resistance in adults when fed to them as babies.

ü  Impairs immunity.

ü  Reduces visual acuity when fed to babies up to 14 months of age.

The end result is that you age faster, have a much greater risk of developing a disease of “affluence” and die younger. Add a statin to the mix and disrupt what’s left of your senescent, tottering, cell membranes and you may not make it to your 40^th birthday before succumbing to some dreadful disorder. While your statin monotherapy sounds cool to you and your doctor, it’s looting your mitochondria of CoQ10, behaving like a slow poison and sacking cholesterol-based hormones from your body’s compendium. Like meeting some plethoric 9^th century highwayman, after dark in a tangle of old growth forest, the statin combined with TFA and excitotoxins in your diet generates a special process of robbery leaving you no chance of walking out intact and unscathed.

This qualifies as an exceptional Dangerous and Deadly Dysergy (DADD) case study. The definition of DADD comes from another section of my work called Exponential Inflammation. Basically it refers to how bad foods or habits combine synergistically to exceed their individual destructive potentials. Here’s how it looks in simple algebra: with a DADD 1 + 1 = 3 (or 10) not 2.

Need I remind you to look at the typical elderly Sick Food Store patron especially within the immoderate interior? Here you get a glimpse of the terrible insult to human health that TFA, statins, omega 6 oils and high-glycemic foods do to you when multiplied by the inexorable cycles of time. Their victims are as frail and as brittle as an old hickory twig in the darkest of winter. Or you may encounter others as bloated, edematous and crippled as an old bone-yard Eldorado.

In summary TFA are bad news so stay far away from them. Now that we know saturated fat is safe to eat we only have two main fats to avoid. Summarized:

1. TFA Completely avoid them if possible. This includes commercially fried foods too. Read all of your labels for anything with the word hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated in it. If you find it’s in there toss it. Remember that the FDA granted permission to Big Food to keep the label “no trans fats” as long as a single serving contains ½ gram or less of TFA as seen with major peanut butter brands. That’s 500 mg per serving, and who eats one serving? Since any amount of TFA is toxic no amount is safe so toss that jar of peanut butter, don’t even give it to the raccoons.
2. The omega 6 FA’s are the other main ones.

There are a few more bad fats we must discuss that are used in certain populations starting with CLO. (Cod liver oil).

 

 

[1] (http://www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday/asbmbtoday_article.aspx?id=14562&page_id=1) 03/12/2012

[2] Barry Sears Understanding Eicosanoids. (http://www.drsears.com/ArticlePreview/tabid/399/itemid/66/Default.aspx)

[3] Blaylock Wellness Report. May 2013. P. 6

[4] IBID p. 6

[5] IBID p. 6, 7

[6]Mozaffarian D, Aro A, Willett WC Health effects of trans-fatty acids: experimental and observational evidence.

Source Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 May;63 Suppl 2:S5-21

[7]Nathalie T. BendsenEffect of industrially produced trans fat on markers of systemic inflammation: evidence from a randomized trial in women (First Published on July 27, 2011, doi: 10.1194/jlr.M014738 October 2011 The Journal of Lipid Research, 52, 1821-1828.)

[8] Mozaffarian D, Aro A, Willett WC. Et al. IBID.

[9] (http://w3.newsmax.com/newsletters/blaylock/issues/immune/blaylock_immune_95.pdf) 05/10/12

[10] Bakylock Wellness Report April 2013 p.6

[11] Balylock Wellness Report May 2013 p. 7

Tags: fat, TFA, trans fat

Category: Fat, PREVENTIVE MEDICINE