Limelight: The good, the fat & the ugly By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Fat is fat, fat is bad, and that is that! Or is it? In fact, fat is good, it has more than twice the energy than do the other two main classes of food -- carbohydrates and protein. It is the body's most efficient form of fuel, aids in the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K, insulates against heat loss, protects several organs against injury, and best of all, it tastes good. So why is it getting such bad rap? Why has it been declared the leading cause of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), modern man's mortal enemy? Fat is as good as it is bad, and yet great are the joys of a thick juicy steak, splendidly marbled and glisteningly oozing with fat. Since our bodies cannot manufacture essential fatty acids, we must include them in our diets, and do we ever! But too much of a good thing is always bad. Scientists believe that controlling the consumption of fat in general and certain fats in particular, can remarkably reduce the millions of deaths caused by CHD. The villain is called trans fat, or trans fatty acids, now dubbed the 'new tobacco'. Trans fats clog our coronary arteries, filling them up with a residue of cholesterol plaque. The arteries become narrower and narrower, impeding blood flow to the heart muscle, and with time, may obstruct blood flow completely. Once mostly the domain of males, CHD is attacking more and more women for the same reasons, namely a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet leading to diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, compounded by obesity, smoking, age and heredity. There are three kinds of fats: saturated, mono-unsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Saturated fats are found in meat and dairy products and can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood. Mono-unsaturated fats, found in olive oil, fish oils, and nuts, and polyunsaturated fats found in corn, sunflower and vegetables, are the good fats that lower cholesterol. Then there are trans fats -- the killer du jour. Trans (Latin for 'the other side') fats, are man-made fats, a product of the modern, enlightened, industrialised 20th century. First conceived to create a cheaper substance to make candles, instead of the more expensive animal fats, chemist EC Kayser, in 1908, developed a method of adding hydrogen to cottonseed oil, a process that keeps the oil in a solid form at room temperature. With the availability of electricity however, the market for candles declined, and hydrogenated oil began to be sold as a food. It became known as 'Crisco' -- a derivation of the initial sounds of 'crystallised cottonseed oil.' Crisco, which looked like lard, was promoted as beneficial, quickly gaining popularity, and hydrogenation became a regular method of solidifying liquid oils. Its commercial benefits were numerous, it reduced cost, increased shelf life, adding flavour and stability to the foods that contain them. Why give it up? Following decades of trans fats consumption in cakes, cookies, crackers, candy, breads, baked foods, canned foods, fast foods, potato chips, corn chips, popcorn, margarine and vegetable shortening, not to mention mountains of French fries at fast-food outlets, scientists finally concluded that the high rate of CHD is directly related to the consumption of trans fats. The Harvard School of Public Health, sounded the alarm in the early 1990s, advocating removing trans fats from industrial foods, thereby preventing tens of thousands of premature cardiac deaths. Much like tobacco, no one heeded, no one cared. But we continued to consume trans fats and we continued to be killed by them. When strict measures were finally taken, it was not by the health conscious, smoke free, richly-researched USA, but by the tiny Scandinavian country of Denmark, which issued an executive order on March 2003, banning the use of oils and fats containing more than traces of trans fats in Danish foods. It is an exemplary piece of legislation for the protection of public health, and puts to shame the slow approach of other industrialised nations. The US FDA finally came around by January of 2006 and required the labelling of trans fat contents on all foods -- too little, too late. Most trans fats are industrially created, and unlike other fats, they are neither required nor beneficial. Did you ever stop to consider what fat looks like? It is downright ugly -- and ugly is as ugly does. Would you sit and devour a kilogramme or two of Crisco? That is what we do, masking our eyes, hearts, and brains. There are, however, fats that we should seek -- the Omega-3 fatty acids. They were discovered during a study of the eating habits of Inuit Indians, whose diets consisted of marine and fish wild life, and who had a significantly reduced risk of CHD. Where can we find those desirable fatty acids, ALA (Linoleic acid), EPA (eicosaeentaenoic acid), and DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid)? ALA is found primarily in dark leafy vegetables, nuts, and certain vegetable oils, while EPA and DHA are found primarily in oily cold water fish such as mackerel, herring, tuna, and salmon. One of the most well known studies in that field is by 'Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell'Infarto Miocardico (GISSI)-Prevenzione' in which 11,324 people were given one gm of Omega-3 fatty acid supplement. The results were staggering; a 45 per cent decrease in risk of sudden cardiac death, a lowering of blood pressure and heart stress, a marked decrease in allergies, hypertension, heart arrhythmia, artherosclerotic plaques, asthma, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, and obesity, as well as cholesterol reduction, weight control, inhibition of cancer tumour growth, and a 20 per cent decrease in all causes of mortality. Positively miraculous! And the body of scientific data is ever increasing, as more studies continue to reveal the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids in human health. Contemplate the many lives sacrificed to trans fats during the last century, far exceeding those lost in its wars. How often has modern man's ingenious inventions ended up by destroying him? We need to turn away from our best tasting, best loved, succulent fatty foods, as from a friend who has outstayed his welcome. Let us embrace instead the bounties of the seas in all their shapes and forms, and partake of nature's heavenly endowments, gratifying whole grains, savoury vegetables and luscious fruits. What tastes so good may also be so very bad, so very fat, and so very ugly. We each day dig our graves with our teeth Samuel Smiles (1812-1904)
