Breathing Space from Junk Foods?

Julia Watson, writing for ScienceDaily.com reports that in cities where transfat has been banned "interesterified fats" are being introduced. "Food manufacturers loved trans fats. They were essential to baked goods and fried food. They prolonged a processed food's shelf life. They stabilized its flavor. What was not to like?"

"Well, what happened when vegetable oil was solidified by means of adding hydrogen to it -- the process behind the making of trans fats -- was that they raised our so-called bad cholesterol while diminishing the cholesterol that was good for our hearts. But if trans fats are withdrawn, something has to take their place if we're going to go on eating processed and fried foods."

"Enter interesterified fats. These are fats modified by procedures that include hydrogenation followed by the rearrangement of fat molecules through a process called interesterification. Already they are being introduced into a number of processed foods as the most popular substitute for hydrogenated oils. Watch out, though, and wait. Interesterified fats may be better for our cholesterol, but they could be bad for our blood glucose."

"Trans fats weren't too good for it either. But in a study just published in Nutrition and Metabolism, Dr. K.C. Hayes of Brandeis University in Massachusetts and T. Karupaiah and Kalyana Sundram from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board discovered that while trans fat 'has a weak negative influence on blood glucose,' interesterified fat appears even worse in that regard, raising glucose 20 percent in a month."

Oh brother!