Be Careful of Trans Fatty Acid

Have we heard about a 30-40 year-old person who has stroke, cancer and heart attack ? One of the most causes of heart attack and stroke is eating more fatty foods. Cancer growth is also usually triggered by fatty acid. The baddest form of fatty acid we should know about is actually trans fatty acid. 

Every single food or snack that made or proceeded from vegetable oil or margarin may contain this one. Palm oil that usually used at the kitchen should be considered as one of the sources of trans fatty acid, if this is used more than one time. Margarin and butter are also regarded as common source of trans fatty acid. These facts are very terrible if i should admit. What is this really ?

This kind of fact I heard, have made me looking more into that, whether it is true or not. First i heard about it at a nutrition symposium in Jakarta 5 years ago, i was shocked at that time. Then i searched more and more then come up with a conclusion that it is really true. 

Trans fatty acid or tans-unsaturated fatty acid is a type of unsaturated fats that became commonly produced industrially from vegetable fats for use in margarine, snack food, packages baked goods and frying fast food. It also can be found in cow milk and every kind of meat as natural sources. Many studies say that cow milk and meat are not really as bad as unnatural trans fatty acid, but the process before we consume them is also a big question mark. I believe we should be careful too with these two kind of foods. 

Almost every food that we eat everyday may contain trans fatty acid. So is it possible to avoid it ? My answer is quite impossible. Then what should we do ? Try not to consume much margarin-made product, dairy product, any chocolate, cakes, pie, donat, cookies, snack, chip, pizza, french fries, certainly meat product and so on. Some studies conducted in Europe countries say sport does not make many changes in reducing trans fatty acid or cholesterol in blood while we everyday consume it. This fact must be a bad news for every sport maniac.

What makes this fact so terrible is also the fact that trans fatty acid can transform into bad cholesterol that always be scared  by everyone in the world. We should be careful choosing our meal especially read carefully any information given with the food label. American Heart Association allows only consumption of trans fatty acid not more than 2 gram daily. Medicines that can control blood fat actually are not the main solution for this problem, but rather than eating habit. As long as we can control what we consume everyday, it already contributes in reducing the risks of getting such horrible diseases. 

Cholesterol as we know coming only from animal products. This one become huge discussion among physician and nutritionist since long time. Everyone seems to be afraid of it. Next time we will discuss about cholesterol. I guess it'd be an interesting topic.