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Dietician Sheela Seharawat

Trans Fats

Trans fats are actually a kind of unsaturated fat which occurs in small quantities in nature. However, they are mostly produced through a process of adding hydrogen to the vegetable oil artificially. This results in the oil becoming solid at the room temperature. Since this oil is less likely to get spoilt, the food items made from this oil have a longer life. Most of these trans fats can be found in processed food items.

Are Trans Fats always bad?
The answer is YES. Let us have a detailed look at the bad effects of trans fats on your body.
1. Trans fats can increase the levels of LDL or bad cholesterol in your body and reduce the amount of good cholesterol of HDL in your body.
2. Eating too much of trans fats can have an adverse effect on your heart. This increases the risk of suffering from heart attack or strokes.
3. Trans fats can also increase the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
4. The nutritional value of trans fats is less as compared to saturated oils and thus cannot help in increasing your immunity or body strength.

Why are trans fats a part of our diet?
Trans fats have so many adverse effects on the body. The question is why do some firms insist on using it.
1. They are easy to use, are not costly to produce, and can last for a long time.
2. By including trans fats, they are able to give a desirable taste to these food items.
3. Moreover, the oil with trans fats can be used for multiple times in the commercial fryers.

Are these trans fats a complete no-no?
Trans fats are bad for health. However, due to their over usage, especially among kids, the occurrence of diseases such as obesity and heart diseases is increasing. Thus, it is often advisable to if not possible to banish, to atleast reduce its usage.

Comments by Dieticians
Dietitian Sheela Seharawat said that “children should not be given these trans fats at all. Though, we should tryvto limit the amount of it’s consumption. As The oil formed by adding hydrogen to it contains a large amount of unsaturated trans fats. Thus, they are extremely dangerous for your body.
Dietitian Divya Chauhan added that “like every coin has two faces, so does the trans fats. The only thing we can do is to moderate the trans fats intake in one way or another”.