This article is from the North Carolina Chiropractic Journal and was written by Walter H. Schmitt, Jr, D.I.B.A.K, D.A.B.C.N. With all the confusion about fats, this helps set the record straight. If you are eating HYDROGENATED OR PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED FATS OR OIL you are asking for trouble!

If the label contains the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, do not let your family eat it. If the label contains the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, do not let your friends eat it. If the label contains the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, get it out of your family's kitchen. Read labels and avoid these substances like they are poisons ... which they are.

Why not consume partially hydrogenated fats or oils? Because by the definition of "poison," partially hydrogenated fats and oils are poisons. Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines "poison" as "any substance which, when relatively small amounts are ingested ... has chemical action that may cause damage to structure or disturbance of function, producing symptomatology, illness, or death." (1) Partially hydrogenated oils do not exist in nature.  Partially hydrogenated fats and oils are processed versions of naturally occurring fats and oils. In nature, most dietary fats and oils exist in a structural form which is called the "cis" form. When these natural cis form fats are processed by bubbling hydrogen gas through them at high temperatures, they become partially hydrogenated which changes their structure to the  "trans" form. The natural cis fat has a bend and the processed trans fat is a straight molecule. See figure 1. This difference in cis and trans shapes is of major significance. When eaten, fats and oils are incorporated into cell membranes altering the composition of these delicate structures. When they interact with normal fat metabolism, they disturb function in a most deleterious manner. Hence, these substances meet the definition of a poison." Trans fats interfere with important, normal functions by inhibiting enzymes which are necessary for the body's normal metabolism of fats and they keep doing it for a long time.

Many essential functions in our bodies depend on three categories of hormones called prostaglandins (PGs) which are produced from fats in our diets. The three families can be called the PG 1, PG 2, and PG 3 families. In a general sense, the PG and PG 3 families are good PGs and the PG 2 family are bad PGs. This is because in our society most of the ill effects of chronic disease are caused by or aggravated by the PG 2 family. This includes heart attacks and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory conditions including autoimmune diseases. The PG 2 family is derived directly from naturally occurring fat found in red meat, shellfish, and dairy products. PG 2 family reactions include: increasing blood clotting, (3) increasing blood pressure, (4) increasing cholesterol and causing other heart attack risk factors to be made worse. (3) PG 2 family substances increase inflammatory activity which leads to tissue destruction associated with everything from trauma to autoimmune diseases. (5, 6, 7) PG 2 family chemicals also cause a decrease in natural killer cells which are necessary for our body to fight off cancer. Because of this fact, tumors increase in size under the influence of PG 2. (8, 9) The naturally occurring PG I and PG 3 families counteract the bad effects of the PG 2 family. The PG I and PG 3 families decrease blood clotting, (10, I 1, 12) decrease blood pressure, (3, 10) decrease cholesterol, (13, 14, 15) decrease inflammation, (6, 7, 16) and increase natural killer cell activity which is necessary to fight tumors. (3, 17). Trans fats block PG I and PG 3 production, and by default, PG 2 substances are produced unopposed. The PG 2 imbalance created by the consumption of partially hydrogenated fats contributes to the production of chronic disease which is the enigma of our modern society.

There are dozens of references in scientific literature documenting the ill effects of trans fatty acids especially in relation to heart disease. (3, 18, 19). If you have difficulty in convincing someone of the value of avoiding trans fats, the extensive references now available in the scientific literature are helpful.

There are also other symptoms which are created by the PG 2 family when trans fats inhibit the balancing effects of the PG I and PG 3 families. Headaches, joint pain including back pain and arthritis, skin problems, premenstrual syndrome, and menstrual cramps are just a few of the symptoms which are related to PG 2 imbalances created by eating partially hydrogenated fats and oils. Millions of people take aspirin, acetaminophen, and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen or naprosen to alleviate these symptoms. These drugs work by blocking PG production. Avoidance of partially hydrogenated trans fats and consumption of natural fats and oils can often turn these symptoms around in as little as 3 to 4 weeks without any other intervention. It has been said that, in the history of the world, there has never been an aspirin deficiency or an NSAID deficiency.

But there are millions of people who regularly consume partially hydrogenated fats and oils who suffer ill effects and then mask the symptoms with these drugs. If you, your family, or your friends, achieve symptom relief with aspirin, acetaminophen, or any other NSAID, (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug), it is almost certain that there is a fatty acid imbalance in the body causing the symptoms in the first place.

Nutritional supplementation with essential fatty acids can also be helpful in reducing symptoms. This is especially true if symptom relief is achieved by aspirin or similar substances. The PG 1 family can be supplemented with black currant seed oil, evening primrose oil, or borage oil. The PG 3 family can be supplemented using flaxseed (linseed) oil and/or fish oils such as those containing EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid.) Ask your doctor about which of these may be useful for you.
 

Although supplementation is useful, return to normal function will not be seen until the partially hydrogenated fats and oils are eliminated from the diet. Many people put up with or medicate for daily nagging symptoms which they wrongly assume are normal. There are no such things as normal headaches, normal backaches, normal arthritis, normal menstrual cramps, etc. All of these symptoms have been helped by total avoidance of partially hydrogenated fats and oils. You will be elated to learn that daily nagging symptoms are not "normal," nor due to "normal aging" or "just getting older." Due to the prolonged life of trans fatty acids, you must be both diligent with avoiding them and patient for the changes to take place. Within a few weeks or a couple of months, however, the results are usually noticeable and often quite gratifying.

Read labels as if your life depended on it, which it does. As people say when they first look to avoid these poisons, "These fats are in everything on the grocery store shelves!" Well, not quite everything. But partially hydrogenated oils are found in margarines, vegetable shortenings, most chips, cookies, candy, cakes, popcorn and other similar snack foods, and are used in food preparation by most fast food companies. (20, 21) Typical ingredients sections of labels include such names as "partially hydrogenated soybean oil," "hydrogenated vegetable oil," "partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil," and so on. Few family doctors, internists, or cardiologists are aware of the mass of recent research evidence indicting trans fats as increasing their patients' risk of heart disease, much less the other adverse effects of consuming these poisonous substances. In fact, most doctors still recommend margarine instead of butter for patients trying to prevent or improve heart disease. The fact is that trans fats increase cardiac risk factors twice as much as saturated fat in the diet! (21) Still, many patients blindly follow their misinformed doctors' advice and are unwittingly consuming foods thinking they will decrease their risk for heart disease when these foods will actually significantly worsen their cardiac risk factors, not to mention the other problems they create. We must stop the insanity of slowly poisoning ourselves and our society by replacing natural fats with processed trans fats. Many of us, our family members, and our friends have nagging symptoms or major degenerative problems which we more or less take for granted. We refer to these symptoms as "normal" or "typical" which they are not. When they recur, we feel victims of an imperfect world. Or we write them off to the aging process. There are tangible reasons for most everything we, our families, and our friends, experience. The ingestion of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and oils contribute to the common aches and pains of daily life as well as slow degenerative processes and life ending illnesses. These symptoms can be changed and the quality of life improved by simply avoiding hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and oils.

Some adverse effects of consuming trans fatty acids reported in humans and animals are:

• Lowers the "good" HDL cholesterol in a dose response manner (the higher the trans level in the diet, the lower the HDL cholesterol in the serum);
• Raises the LDL cholesterol in a dose response manner;
• Raises the atherogenic (producing athersclerosis) lipoprotein (a) in humans;
• Raises total serum cholesterol levels 20-30mg%;
• Lowers the amount of cream (volume) in milk from lactating females in all species studied, including humans, thus lowering the overall quality available to the infant;
• Correlates to low birth weight in human infants;
• Increases blood insulin levels in humans in response to glucose load, increasing risk for diabetes;
• Affects immune response by lowering efficiency of B cell response and increasing proliferation of T cells;
• Decreases levels of testosterone in male animals, increases level of abnormal sperm, and interferes with gestation in females;
• Decreases the response of the red blood cell to insulin, thus having a potentially undesirable effect in diabetics;
• Inhibits the function of membrane-related enzymes such as the delta-6 desaturase, resulting in decreased conversion of, e.g., linoleic acid to arachidonic acid;
• Causes adverse alterations in the activities of the important enzyme system that metabolizes chemical carcinogens and drugs (medications), i.e., the mixed function oxidase cytochromes
  P-448/450;
• Causes alterations in physiological properties of biological membranes including measurements of membrane transport and membrane fluidity;
• Causes alterations in adipose cell size, cell number, lipid class, and fatty acid composition;
• Adversely interacts with conversion of plant omega-3 fatty acids to elongated omega-3 tissue fatty acids;
• Escalates adverse effects of essential fatty acid deficiency;
• Increases peroxisomal activity (potentiates free-radical formation).

Now you can see why we say, "Get these out of your family's kitchen". FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS EAT PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED FATS!

Take this preliminary to see if your condition could respond to treatment.

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