11 July 2011 - BBC Food Blog - The Trouble with Trans Fats

FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:

Scientific and medical evidence has clearly shown that industrial trans fats are toxic - and so should not be in our food supply (see Mozaffarian & Stampfer 2010) 

Trans fats have long been known to significantly increase risks for heart disease and diabetes. More recent evidence indicates that they also have damaging effects on human brains and behaviour. This is hardly surprising given that trans fats are artificially warped and twisted versions of the natural omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturates that are absolutely required for normal brain development and function.

Denmark was the first country to ban these poisonous fats in 2006. New York and California have followed suit, and bans are now in force or imminent in several European countries.  But despite calls from leading public health experts in the UK and US for the UK to ban them too, our government and its agencies continue to claim that 'voluntary agreements' with big players in the food industry are sufficient to protect UK consumers.  

In the latest episode of BBC Radio 4's Food Programme, Sheila Dillon exposed the fatal flaws in this argument. And here, she has followed up with a BBC Foodblog on the subject.