Ways How Trans Fat Affects Longevity - Literature review Example

Year: Major: Human Longevity - How Trans Fat Affects Longevity Introduction: What we eat and how much we eat has been a of interest, as it has a significant impact on the development of diseases, and conditions in the human body, and thereby has an impact on the length of life of an individual. Developments in the field of medical science and technology have resulted in the increasing span of human life. These developments are likely to be over shadowed by the increased consumption of food and food products that contain materials that are detrimental to the health of the individual and could cause reduce life span by causing diseases and conditions that have a high mortality and morbidity rates. Overview of Trans Fat: All of the fats consumed are essentially a mixture of saturated and polyunsaturated fats. Fats have been a part of the diet of humanity from the very almost the very beginning of time in the meat that was consumed, and gradually increased when human beings found the means to extract vegetable oils from sources like coconuts, palms and olives, gradually expanding to a wide range of vegetable sources. Therefore consumption of fat in appropriate quantities was a part of human diet for a very long period of time, and consumption of appropriate quantities of suitably extracted and stored animal or vegetable fats need not have a detrimental impact on the health of an individual. It is when unsuitably extracted and stored fats are consumed that there is a greater emphasis on health hazards. To prevent fats from getting rancid or spoiled a process of hydrogenation of fats was introduced in the early nineteenth century. This process, which hardens the vegetable oils, has given us products like margarine and shortening. Trans fats or trans fatty acids are mainly these partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that are used in growing proportions in food products, but not necessarily the only source. Deep frying of food products is also capable of adding trans fats to the food products. The detrimental effects of trans fats on the health of an individual and the rising quantum of its consumption have become research subjects. Evidence from this interest has shown that both these factors have a negative impact on the life span of an individual. Relevance of This Study on Trans Fat: Aging is a natural and normal process in any individual. Yet there is a difference in the manner that physical abilities of an individual diminish with age. There is increased evidence from research that increase in physiological changes like increased blood sugar and cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure and weight gain do not contribute to normal aging process. They are precursors to many chronic diseases and conditions that are preventable. These conditions and diseases have a significant impact in accelerating the aging process and reducing the longevity of life in many individuals, as only thirty percent of reduced life span in individuals is contributed by genetic reasons. The knowledge that one of the factors that contribute to this abnormal aging process is the diet of an individual, and can be checked by altering the diet, has led to focus on trans fat, which has increasingly become a part of the food products consumed. (Amersbach, G. 2000). Literature Review: Sources of Consumption of Food Products: Margarine and shortening find increased used in bakeries and homes to improve the taste and presentation of baked products. Increasing consumption of bakery products increases the intake of trans fats. Trans fats are not only found in these food products, but in the increasingly popular French fries and fried chicken, doughnuts, cookies, pastries and crackers. An alarming issue is the percentage of trans fats present in these food products in the United States of America. The percentage of trans fats in French fries normally is around forty percent. In cookies and crackers the percentage of trans fatty acids ranges from thirty to fifty percent. In the case of doughnuts the presence of trans fats is to the tune of thirty five percent. Deep fried food products either in homes, take-away or restaurants have become more popular in modern times. These deep fried products have a higher percentage of trans fat than food products that are not fried. (Mercola, J. & Droege, R. 2003). Consumption of Trans Fat: The consumption of fat in general has to be appropriate, and the type of fat that needs to be eliminated from the diet of an individual is trans fatty acids, but in the United States of America, regrettably trans fat is widely consumed. (Amersbach, G. 2000). The use of cooking oil containing high quantities of trans fat is rampant in the United States of America, even with popular and established chain outlets like McDonalds, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. There is evidence to suggest that the cooking oil used for French fries in McDonald outlets in the United States of America is as high as twenty three percent. Whereas in Europe McDonald outlets on use cooking oil with ten percent trans fat an average. In some countries of Europe this percentage of trans fat reduces drastically to as much as five percent in Spain and one percent in Denmark. In France trans fat content in McDonald French fries hovers around fifteen percent, and in the case of Kentucky Fried Chicken French fries it is around eight percent. These figures suggest higher and indiscriminate use of trans fat in the United States of America. This indiscriminate use of trans fat is due to several factors like lack of adequate knowledge of trans fat consumption and its consequences, consumer taste preference, and inadequate administrative regulation over its use. (Hitti, M. 2006). Consumption of trans fat is not restricted to food products that eaten away from home. The increased trend to use margarine in home cooking has increased consumption of trans fat in normal household diets. (Skeaff, C.M. & Gowans, S. 2006). Craig-Schmidt, 2006 reports on the trans fat consumption world wide. In this report consumption in the United States of America and northern Europe is high, particularly in comparison to southern Europe, where there is greater use of olive oil to hydrogenated vegetable oils. These figures put the daily consumption of trans fatty acids in the United States of America at 10g/person, northern Europe at 2.1 to 5.4 g/person and southern Europe at 1.4-2.1g/person. The United States of America ranks the highest in the individual consumption of trans fat world wide, and this suggests that legislation in curbing its use and proper labeling of food products is essential. Health Implications of Trans Fat Consumption: The list of possible adverse affects due to consumption lowering of the good HDL cholesterol levels and elevating the levels of harmful LDL cholesterol in the blood, raising of the atherogenic lipoprotein, raising the total serum cholesterol levels by as much as thirty percent, lowering the overall quality of milk in lactating women, reducing the birth weight of human infants, increase in risk for diabetes, reduction in immune response efficiency, responsible for alterations in adipose cell size, cell number, lipid class and fatty acid composition, escalating the adverse effects of essential fatty acid deficiency, and increase of potential for free-radical formation. This list of adverse affects of trans fat consumption is ever increasing from the initial negative implications to the blood profile of an individual to current evidence that suggests that this extends to the increased incidence of gallbladder diseases in males. (Tsai, C. et al. 2005). All these adverse effects contribute to abnormal aging of the individual, thereby reducing the life span of an individual Medical Evidence of Negative Impact on Life Span by Trans Fat Consumption: Research studies have indicated that consumption of 2.5 parts of margarine increases the risk of cardio-vascular diseases many times, and a consumption of 2% of daily caloric intake in the form of trans fat have a staggering impact on elevated risk levels of heart disease. These figures have to be looked at from the perspective that the average daily consumption of trans fat in the United States of America is as high as ten percent and individual consumption of some individuals could be as high as twenty-two percent. (O’Riordan, M. 2006). Emerging research suggests the reasons as to why trans fat poses such enhanced risks for cardio-vascular diseases. Initially risk for cardio-vascular diseases associated with trans fat consumption was believed to be due to elevated cholesterol levels in the blood. Recent research shows that trans fat, besides elevating cholesterol levels is also responsible for adverse impact on the endothelial cells of blood vessels through inflammation, and also increasing the density of the LDL particle size increasing the atherogenocity. In addition to enhanced risk for cardio-vascular diseases, trans fat also elevates risk levels for diabetes, obesity and cancer. Cardio-vascular disease by itself the leading cause for death in men and women in North America, and when the mortality rate figures for the other diseases result for which trans fat consumption is a contributory factor, the staggering impact that trans fat consumption has on reducing live span becomes more clear, suggesting that trans fat consumption is the single leading cause for reduced life spans from a dietary perspective. (Ajwani, F. & Ricupero, M. 2006). Legislation on Trans fat: In 2003 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended its labeling requirements on food products. This action was subsequent to a citizen petition action by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). This change in rule is meant to provide information to the general public so that they can maintain health dietary behavior. The amended nutritional labeling rule requires that trans fatty acids be declared in the conventional nutritional labeling on all foods and dietary supplements on a separate line immediately below the line providing information on saturated fatty acids. By providing this information it is possible for individuals’ food and dietary supplements in which trans fat is present. (Food Labeling: Trans Fatty Acids in Nutritional Labeling, Nutrient Content Claims, and Health Clams). Public Action and Use of Transfat: Such concerted action from public interest organizations and medical field have led to increased awareness among the authorities about the need for curtailing the use of trans fat in the interests of the health of the general public. Some city authorities are standing up to take a more stringent stand on the issue of trans fat, and it is hoped that gradually that this trend would spread across the whole country, thereby reducing the use of trans fat in the country. The City of New York proposes to ban the use of trans fat. (O’Riordan, M. 2006). This growing awareness and public action is having its impact on food product service business enterprises. Kentucky Fried Chicken has taken a decision not to use cooking oil containing trans fat in the preparation of fried chicken, and expects to implement this decision by April 2007. (Zwillich, T. 2006). Conclusion: Consumption of Transfat has a very significant impact on the health of any individual and the risk factor for diseases and conditions that can shorten the life of an individual. Consumption of even small quantities of trans fat is detrimental to the length of life of an individual, and it is best avoided. Concerted action by public interest groups and the medical fraternity has brought about a realization among the authorities about the necessity to curb the availability and use of trans fat in the interests of the health of the general public. However it boils down to individual eating behavior to avoid consumption of trans fat. Duet patterns that avoid the use of trans fat give the benefit of better health and through that the means to increase the life span of an individual. Literary References Ajwani, F. & Ricupero, M. 2006. Whats the Skinny on Trans Fat? Geriatrics & Aging, 9(5): 358-364. Amersbach, G. 2000. beyond the myths of aging. Harvard Public Health Review. HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/review_2000/featureaging.html (accessed 6th December, 2006). Craig-Schmidt, M. C. 2006. World-wide consumption of trans fatty acids. Atherosclerosis. Supplements, 7(2): 1-4. Food Labeling: Trans Fatty Acids in Nutritional Labeling, Nutrient Content Claims, and Health Clams. Food and Drug Administration. Federal Register, 68 (133): 41434 Hitti, M. 2006. How Much Trans Fat in Those Fries? WebMDHealth. Medscape Today. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529872 (accessed 6th December, 2006). Mercola, J. & Droege, R. 2003. Trans-Fat: What Exactly is it, and Why is it so Dangerous? http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/19/trans_fat.htm (accessed 6th December, 2006). O’Riordan, M. 2006. NYC Proposes Ban on Trans Fat. Heartwire. WebMD. Medscape Today. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/546959 (accessed 6th December, 2006). Skeaff, C.M. & Gowans, S. 2006. Home use of margarine is an important determinant of plasma trans fatty acid status: a biomarker study. The British journal of nutrition, 96(2): 377-383. Tsai, C. et al. 2005. Dietary Trans-Fatty Acids May Modestly Increase Risk of Gallstone Disease in Men. Archives of Internal Medicine, 165:1111-1116. Zwillich, T. 2006. KFC to Fry Chicken Without Trans Fats. WebMDHealth. Medscape Today. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/546835 (accessed 6th December, 2006). Read More