Trans-fats have no benefit to the human body, they decrease good HDL (high-density lipoprotiens) and the increase the amount of bad LDL (low-density lipoproteins), (MayoClinic, 2010). High LDLs can cause your arteries, which are the vessels that pump blood from your heart to your body, to become more rigid and accumulate plaque, (MayoClinic, 2010). This is called atherosclerosis, and it reduces the amount of blood able to get to your body which can cause a stroke or heart attack, (MayoClinic, 2010). These heart diseases, all caused by trans-fats are the leading killers of men and women today, (MayoClinic, 2010). High levels of LDL and low levels of HDL also cause insulin resistance which is directly related to Type 2 Diabetes. Not to mention that cancer rates are higher when trans fats are accumulated in the body, (Dr. Enig, 1978). This alone aught to be enough to encourage people to limit their trans fat intake.
The average American is currently consuming five times as much trans-fats then they aught to, (FDA, 2010). Because of all this unnatural cholesterol in the body 12.5 million Americans have heart problems caused by trans-fats and could have been prevented by not eating foods high in trans-fats, (FDA, 2010). The Food and Drug Administration and the American Heart Association has already put out a statement saying that people and restaurants aught to limit their trans fat consumption to 1% of your total daily calories, (MayoClinic, 2010). Besides all the adverse effects, such as an early death, that trans-fats have on your body there is one more area I would like to cover. Fatty foods, which are full of trans-fats, are addictive, as evidenced by research done by the Yale University and the Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. In Dr. Marcia Pelchat's podcast she states that the responses to some foods and the responses to street drugs involve the same brain mechanisms that include the memory, habit, and automatic behavior areas of the brain. She concluded this by using Brain Imaging Studies on people reporting food cravings. These feelings of craving are indications of substance abuse and chemical dependence on that particular food (Pelchat, 2010), which is normally a fatty food full of trans-fats such as fries or chocolate cake. Food addiction doesn't belong to only the obese (Pelchat, 2010), that is a misconception. Any person who eats sugar on a regular basis and has these cravings is going thru a trans-fat withdrawal and the areas activated in their brains are the same as cocaine, heroin and tobacco users. IT'S A MISCONCEPTION TO BELIEVE THAT THESE HEART DISEASES ONLY BELONG TO THE OLD AND THE OBESE - check out my two colored citations below for more information.
New York City's Board of Health unanimously banned trans-fats from it's restaurants in 2008. This ban also required that calorie information be posted next to the food item on the menu so that their customers can make more informed choices of what they eat, (msnbc, 2006). California, New Mexico and Oregon have already signed the bill and their restaurants will be required to ban trans-fats by 2011, (Rosenbloom, 2010, NCSL, 2010). Already the Health Law, to be activated in 2011 under President Obama, requires that Chain Restaurants have calorie information for each item, on their menu and on their drive-thru signs, (Rosenbloom, 2010). New York and California have signed the bill, requiring their restaurants to be trans-fat free, (Joseph, 2010). Dr. Brownell says that when people eat out of the home, which is half of the time on average, they eat more food and worse food then normally. By banning trans-fats in restaurants it creates healthier, more nutritional meals, without changing the menu or the taste, (Rosenbloom, 2010). States that pass this legislation are helping increase the survival rate of Americans in their district.
This will benefit you by increasing your health and the longevity of your life without paying more money for ridiculous organic foods. Not eating foods made with trans-fats will keeps arteries free from being clogged with cholesterol plaque, (McMurry, 2007). Keeping arteries free from plaque buildup ensures that the blood pumped through your heart is able to get to the rest of your body and to your brain, (MayoClinic, 2010). Keeping people's blood clean and arteries resilient would almost obliterate heart attacks and strokes on a national level, (WebMD, 2010). Not having a stroke or heart attack would significantly increase a persons lifespan because only 29% of humans who survive their first stroke or heart attacks are still alive five years later, (WebMD, 2010, Smajlovic, 2006). Therefore not eating foods with trans-fats will increase a person's health and lifespan. This will benefit you by decreasing your chance for a heart attack. Eating trans-fats clogs arteries with cholesterol plaque buildup which can break off, flow into the brain, and cause the person to stroke, (MayoClinic, 2010, McMurry, 2007, Healthwise, 2009). According to Yale's Dr. Brownell, Director of Food Policy and Obesity, these changes will affect the nations nutrition and be a nationwide health benefit, (Rosenbloom, 2010). Some consumers might ignore the nutritional information put out by the restaurants, but as the populous continues to be educated, the United States will become a healthier nation.
I want you to understand the health risk that trans-fats cause to you. I want you to educate your family and to create meals for your children that won't increase their risk of obesity and heart failure. I want you to join www.bantransfats.com and write letters to your senator to have them sign the bill to ban trans-fats from Ohio's restaurant chains. TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE AND YOUR HEALTH! BAN TRANS FATS FROM RESTAURANT CHAINS!
CITATIONS
McMurry, John. (2007). Lipid Metabolism: Lipids and Atherosclerosis. In Fifth Ed., Fundamentals of General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (pp. 774 – 782). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pelchat, Marcia, Dr. (2010). Human Food Addiction. [Podcast file]. Retrieved from http://streaming.yale.edu/opa/podcasts/audio/schools/health_and_medicine/pelchat02_030409. Mp3
Mayo Clinic Staff (2010, April 10). High Blood Cholesterol : Trans Fat is Double Trouble For Your Heart Health. Retrieved April 10, 2010 from Mayo Clinic website : http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trans-fat/CL00032
Smajlovic, D. (2006, Aug). Five year survival after first-ever stroke. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from U.S. National Library of Medicine website : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16995842
Healthwise Staff. (2009, May 5). Heart attack and unstable angina – Cause. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from WebMD website : http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/tc/heart-attack-and-unstable- angina-cause
Passwater, Richard A., Ph.D. (Retrieved April 10, 2010). Heath Risk From Processed Foods And Trans Fats: Part 1. [Interview with Dr. Mary Enig, Director of the Nutritional Science Division of Enig Associates, Inc.]. From online source : http://www.healthy.net/scr/Interview.aspx? Id=162&xcntr=1
Food & Addiction. (2010). Retrieved April 10, 2010 from Rudd Center For Food Policy and Obesity Official Yale website: http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/hot_topics.aspx Public
Information from FDA. (2010). Eat for a healthy heart. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from WebMD website http://www.webmd.com/fda/eat-healthy-heart Goldberg, Delen. (2005, Dec. 6). Student Died From Heart Attack: Syracuse University Freshman Suffered From Hardening Of The Arteries. The Post-Standard. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-139492607.html
Charlotte, N.C. (2009, Feb. 4). North Carolina University Student Has Heart Attack, Dies During Basketball Game. The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved from : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487745,00.html
MSNBC Staff. (2006, Dec. 5). New York City passes trans-fat ban : Restaurants must eliminate artery clogging ingredients by July 2008. Retrieved on May 1, 2010 from MSNBC Health website : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/
FDA Staff. (2010, May 1). Revealing trans-fats. Retrieved on May 1, 2010 from FDA website : http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/food/reveal-fats/reveal-fats.htm
Rosenbloom, Stephanie. (2010, March 23). Calorie Data To Be Posted At Most Chains. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/business/24menu.html
NCSL Staff. (2010, April). Trans-fat and menu labeling legislation. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from National Conference of State Legislatures website : http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx? tabid=14362
Ohio House of Representatives. (2010). Member Details : Jay P. Goyal (D). Retrieved May 1, 2010 from The Ohio House of Representatives website : http://www.house.state.oh.us/index.php? option=com_displaymembers&task=detail&district=73
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