Thu February 9, 2012 Trans Fats Are Leaving The Food Supply And
The Body, Study Finds Remember trans fats? And the big campaigns
to get them out of burgers, fries and all kinds of baked goods?
Well, those campaigns seem to have worked. A study out this week
has found that the amount of trans-fatty acids in some Americans
decreased significantly — 58 percent among white adults between
2000 and 2009. Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, who published their findings in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, say that is
"substantial progress." The history of trans fats is pretty
fascinating, as Dan Charles' recent post demonstrated. The
invention of hydrogenation turned cottonseed oil (and later,
soybean oil) from a liquid into a solid that was perfect for
baking and frying. Back in the in the 1980s, health activists
actually promoted oils containing trans fats. Crisco, made from
partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, was promoted as a good
alternative to lard. But by the m