The Scientific Case for Banning Trans Fats
By Walter Willett
In November 2013 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the welcome, belated determination that partially hydrogenated oils—the primary source of trans fats—could no longer be “generally regarded as safe.” At press time, the ruling is preliminary but expected to become permanent. If it does, it will virtually eliminate industrially produced trans fats in the U.S, saving thousands of lives every year, with minimal cost to industry.
In 1901 German chemist Wilhelm Normann discovered the process of partial hydrogenation, which converts inexpensive liquid vegetable oils into shortenings and margarines and creates trans fats as a by-product. Because these cheaper, longer-lasting products mimicked the traditional cooking fats of European and North American cuisines, many countries quickly incorporated them into their food supplies. In 1912 the inventors of partial hydrogenation received the Nobel Prize. It took decades for scientists to realize how deadly trans fats could be, partly because the food industry and the cardiovascular prevention community dismissed concerns over adverse effects on health, but the evidence continued to mount.
In 1980 my colleagues and I set out to examine in greater detail the relation between intake of trans fats and risk of coronary heart disease. We included trans fats in a comprehensive assessment of diet in the Nurses' Health Study cohort of more than 100,000 women and developed a regularly updated database of the trans-fat content of foods. After eight years of follow-up and after accounting for known risk factors for heart disease, we found that women with the highest intake of trans fats had a 50 percent higher risk of hospitalization or death attributable to coronary heart disease. Margarine, the primary source of trans fat in 1980, was also associated with greater risk.
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientific-case-for-banning-trans-fats/
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