The trans fats are a type of fat found naturally in foods but especially widespread in industrial food source because the oils change their structure during processing. We tell you why trans fats are a harmful nutrient and how to avoid them in the daily diet.
The sugar added to food is not the only enemy of our health, but the refined flours, the oil palm and the trans fats can harm and are therefore ingredients and / or nutrients in our diet should control.
Why should we avoid trans fats in our diet?
The food industry makes use of these fats to reduce the use of animal fats and instead, use solid vegetable fats at room temperature and long life.
But although these fats are very beneficial for the food industry are not for our body, where they have a more negative effect than saturated fats, as they raise bad cholesterol and reduce good cholesterol, thus representing a risk factor for Suffer cardiovascular diseases.
In addition, trans fat intake is associated with an increased risk of weight gain and obesity, as well as an increase in abdominal adiposity that can initiate a series of metabolic changes that lead, among other things, to diabetes and hypertension.
On the other hand, due to the oxidative and inflammatory power of this type of fat, a high consumption of them can lead to cellular changes that generate cognitive and memory losses.
As if that were not enough, a high consumption of trans fats can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and also may be a factor that increases the chances of suffering cancer, since the oxidative stress generated by its high intake can cause negative cellular changes.
For all these reasons, trans fats are the worst type of fats that we can consumeand we should try to avoid them in our diet to respect the recommendations of not exceeding 1% of the daily calories or that their consumption is as low as possible.
Food source and how to avoid trans fats in our diet
In nature we find some foods like milk that contain trans fats in the smallest proportions, and which, moreover, are not as harmful as artificial or industrial trans fats.
Likewise, most processed foods and fast food are a source of trans fats in high proportions, so even in the frying of local fast food we can find this type of fats that harm the body.
Thus, the main food sources of trans fats are foods of industrial origin such as margarines, cereal bars, breakfast cereals, biscuits, commercial snacks and others, so a valuable resource to reduce this type of fats in the diet is Avoid the products and exchange them for fresh food.
Reducing the intake of processed in the day to day is key to avoid consumption of trans fats, but if we want greater certainty it is fundamental to learn to identify these fats in each food by reading about the whole list of ingredients where we can find trans fats under the name Of “hydrogenated oil”, “partially hydrogenated oil” or derivatives thereof.
This is how trans fats are a nutrient detrimental to health and therefore, it is important to learn to avoid them in the daily diet.