At the end of November this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that trans fats were found to be unhealthy for human consumption. This seemed to be somewhat of a low blow to certain food manufacturers and distributors who have been relying on this rather low-cost alternative to saturated fats and animals fats. Despite their arguments and pleas, scientists and researchers have gained enough evidence to conclude that the banning of trans fats in all of the American food supply could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in medical costs.
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Trans fats are a combination of vegetable oil and hydrogen gas, also known as hydrogenated vegetable oil. In the beginning scientists believed that trans fats were less harmful than saturated fats, which turned out to be drastically wrong. Saturated fats are indeed harmful too, but nowhere near as destructive as trans fats, which can clog the arteries and lead to illness or even death due to heart disease. Even more, trans fats raise bad cholesterol levels while lowering good cholesterol levels, an effect that any educated doctor would veer their patients away from.
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According to federal health officials, banning trans fats from the American dinner table could potentially prevent 20,000 heart attacks, as well as 7,000 deaths per year. So why the fixation with trans fats? And how did we become so dependent on something so unhealthy? Manufacturers saw major advantages with trans fats: 1) the ingredient allowed them to manipulate the taste and texture of foods however they wanted, and 2) it helped extend the shelf life of processed foods like baked goods. Despite the reservations of certain food makers and suppliers, the health of the public and the responsibility of the FDA are sure to suppress the wishes of any company who want to include trans fats in their products.
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John Urchak has continually strived to live a healthy lifestyle for many years, and devotes much of his time to ensuring that others get their fair share of healthy living. Visit the homepage of Mr. John Urchak and find out how these new measures may change your perception of those tasty delicacies in the vending machine. If they have been there a while, you may want to go elsewhere.
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