Enig Interview Part 2.

CATEGORY: foods/manmade
TECHNICAL: ***
SUMMARY:
This is the second part of the Mary Enig document on
trans fats. As I said in the first part, this is truly
one of the best works on identifying and detailing the
problems with man-made trans-fatty acids which appear in
almost all of our processed foods.
There are several things to take note of in this
segment. As you read through the document, consider some of
these facts:

* TFA's increase bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol.
* TFA's have shown a statistical correlation with increased breast
and prostate cancer.
* Research showing that TFA's are harmful is consistently being
surpressed by the food industry.
* She also argues that antioxidant vitamins have a positive
impact on cancer prevention.
* The amount of TFA in ruminant meats and milk is significantly
lower than in hydrogenated man-made oils.
* The amount of hydrogenated oils in our diet is ever on the
increase... (as high as 60g day!)
* saturated fats have been blamed for heart disease, but can
actually reduce the risk that is posed by TFA's when consumed
in combination with TFA fats!
* staurated fats are created by the body from excess carbohydrate
and protein.
* coconut and palm oils have actually demonstrated positive
effects on blood cholesterol and health

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PART II Trans fats from partially-hydrogenated oils are the real culprits
for which saturated fats have been blamed.

by Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D.

Last month we talked mostly about what trans fats (TFAs) were, how
they interfere with "machinery" of our normal cell biology and that they
are a recent and unnatural intrusion into our diets. In Part II, we will
look into the health problems caused by TFAs, and in Part III, Dr. Enig
will put the research on TFAs and other fats in perspective and give us
her thoughts on the pluses and negatives of the Health Food Industry as
seen from academia.

Passwater: You mentioned the your research was stimulated by the
early investigations of Drs. Fred Kummerow, George Mann and Edward
Pinckney. What did you set out to investigate and what have others added
to these findings?

Enig: Much of the Trans-Fatty Acid (TFA) research that was
accomplished at the University of Maryland from 1977 to today was done to
answer some very basic questions. For example, we wanted to know how much
TFAs people were being exposed to. So during some of the early research,
we measured the amounts of TFAs in typical U. S. foods and then estimated
the amounts in various diets and in the food supply.

The next set of efforts was done to measure the effects that feeding
diets containing physiologically relevant amounts of TFAs to laboratory
animals had on some reproductive and lactation functions, on the
alteration of membrane properties, and on the consequent alteration of
enzyme functions that had physiological importance. These different
efforts were measured by our research group, and many of our findings, e.
g., that the enzyme functions were adversely affected, were repeated by
various other research groups. It is hard to tell sometimes if we were
repeating the findings of others or if others were repeating our findings.
I think it is safe to say that the research was invariably reproducible as
long as the same animal model and the same amount of TFAs were used. In
other words, our findings were real and other researchers could easily
find the same thing.

A number of research groups were able to use some of our basic
findings, and many of the researchers were using their own models and
their research was providing information that was parallel and
complementary to ours. In many instances, the other research teams had
access to better funding and models that we did not have at the University
of Maryland.

One research group at Auburn University examined diets of adolescent
girls and directly measured the TFAs in their diets by laboratory
analytical methods. [16, 17] They found that approximately two-thirds of
the TFAs in the diets of these adolescents could be predicted by the food
composition data in our 1983 research paper for 220 foods. This is rather
remarkable since their research was done in another part of the country.
It does show the similarity of many of the same types of partially
hydrogenated fats in diets across the US.

A research group at Louisiana State University studied, among other
things, the effects of TFAs on what is called "the second messenger,"
cyclic AMP and the digitalis receptor. [18] They found that TFAs affected
both.

Still another research group, this one at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, studied the effect of TFAs on bone development. [19, 20] Their
research showed some very undesirable effects! AS far as I know, the
latter two groups who were finding important effects have not been able to
continue because of lack of funds for TFA research. Their efforts were
done independent of our concerns and findings but parallel to our efforts.

There have been a number of other research efforts that have been
given widespread publicity. These include the published findings from Dr.
Martijn Katan's lab in Holland that the TFAs lower the "good" High-Density
Lipoprotein (HDL) and raise the "bad" lipoprotein [a] (Lpa) which is
atherogenic. [21] Also, the published findings from Dr. Walter Willett's
research at Harvard on 85,000 nurses, as well as other prospective
studies, have showed that those people who consumed the most TFAs had the
most heart disease. [3] Dr. Willett's group also has preliminary, as yet
unpublished, data that those individuals who developed breast and prostate
cancer had higher intakes of TFAs. These findings have been presented at
scientific meetings by Dr. Willett and his staff.

I have recently prepared a technical report which includes additional
information that would normally not be found in typical scientific
reviews. [22] This information is of special interest to many in the food
industry and the regulatory agencies. The report identifies all of the
different research groups that have been working on TFAs around the world
over the past 60 years.

Passwater: I remember how the processed food industry tried to
suppress your early research. As Rodney Leonard, the editor of Nutrition
Week noted, you fought tenaciously to bring out the truth and were "a burr
under the saddle of the [processed food] industry and the government,
persistently challenging the contention that the health threat of trans
fatty acids is overplayed and that the current level of consumption poses
no threat to public health." Most of those who were skeptical then have
examined the steady stream of new data and now agree with you that TFAs
are a major health threat. How were you able to keep on? What techniques
were used against you and how did you overcome them? Where did you find
moral and scientific support?

Enig: As you know from some of our past conversations, we ran into
some strong challenges from certain segments of the edible oil industry
regarding our findings. In addition to writing several articles to
"refute" our findings, and seeing to it that our major reports did not get
properly referenced, those individuals who actively opposed our research
were able to influence funding sources. Gradually though, other
researchers started to realize that we were correct and appropriately
conservative in our approach to research, and consequently, most of the
"bad-mouthing" that we encountered has backfired.

Passwater: Yes, I remember well how we were both encountering
difficulties with "the establishment." I am happy to note, as you well
know, that the same is happening regarding my findings regarding vitamin E
and the prevention of heart disease, and of the antioxidant nutrients in
the prevention of cancer. We never did get the funding needed to further
pursue our research.

Enig: You're right. At the University of Maryland we never did get
the type of funding that you need to receive to continue the level of
research that would have been desirable, but what funding we did receive
was carefully managed and many of the people in our research group were
dedicated to the research.

I think we found moral support because we knew we were scientifically
correct, and ultimately the scientific support came as other researchers
started to evaluate the problems without having certain industry people
set up their research protocol. AS you realize from your years of
involvement in research, good research properly done is always
reproducible, if all the variables are the same, but it is also possible
for unscrupulous individuals to set up a research protocol designed to
obfuscate, and if that gets published, it keeps other good researchers
from continuing to work in the area. Frequently, those individuals who are
coopted write their summary and abstract the way the industry wants them
to, but they usually leave their data intact so that a knowledgeable
researcher can recognize the inconsistency. However, it is a very time-
consuming task to constantly challenge each piece of misinformation that
you see.

Passwater: Yes, it is a difficult task, but you and I give it our
best shots. In the past we did a lot of challenging others to prove us
wrong, and now we can smile a lot.

Enig: Our work is not done yet! There is still much to do.

Passwater: Right again! How big is the problem with TFAs? How
extensive are trans fats in our modern diets, and how does this compare to
ancient diets and other diets around the world.

Enig: Today the levels of TFAs vary around the world from practically
zero to levels much like those found in our foods in the U. S. It depends
on how much partially hydrogenated vegetable fats or partially
hydrogenated marine oils are present in the food supply.

Without the commercial partial hydrogenation process, as would have
been the case more than a hundred years ago, the levels of TFAs in diets
would be relatively low. Only the ruminant fats would have supplied any,
and the types of isomers that are found in the ruminant fats behave in a
very different way from those found in the partially hydrogenated
vegetable oils. Additionally, the research shows that the TFAs are more of
a problem when the level of saturated fat is low. Diets that are higher in
ruminant fats are also higher in saturated fats. Most ruminant fats have
about 2-3% TFAs whereas the partially hydrogenated vegetable fats are
commonly 30-40% and as high as 53% in foods in this country.

After analyzing hundreds of food samples for TFAs, chemically
analyzing food composites, and calculating dietary information, I am
confident that there are many people in this country who consume 20% of
the total fat in their diet as TFAs. On average though, 10.9% is the
number we came up with when we looked at all of the published analyses.
The typical french fried potatoes are around 40% TFAs, and many popular
cookies and crackers range from 30 to 50% TFAs, and every donut I have
analyzed has about 35 to 40% TFAs. Since these are all fairly high fat
products, someone who eats a lot of these types of foods will get a large
amount of TFAs. Several years ago, we documented nearly 60 grams of TFAs
in someone's typical daily diet.

Passwater: Wow! I hope that's no one I know. Dr. Enig, you mentioned
that TFAs are atherogenic -- that is they cause atherosclerosis. Then you
mention that TFAs are more of a problem when saturated fats are low. Yet
most people fear saturated fats because they have been told that it is the
saturated fats that cause heart disease.

You are recognized as a leading expert on fats and oils, do saturated
fats cause heart disease?

Enig: The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease is completely
wrong, but the statement has been "published" so many times over the last
three or more decades that it is very difficult to convince people
otherwise unless they are willing to take the time to read and learn what
all the economic and political factors were that produced the
anti-saturated fat agenda.

Periodically, various reports have come out that show the
inconsistencies in the theory. You have already discussed this with the
well-known cholesterol and lipids researcher, Dr. David Kritchevsky of the
Wistar Institute. [23] In 1977, Dr. Kritchevsky noted that it did not make
any difference what kind of fat was added to the whole foods diets in
animal studies -- only when the diets were very unnatural chemically could
changes be brought about -- and from study to study these changes were
inconsistent. [24]

As you frequently report, the latest theories regarding heart disease
point to oxidized fats and oxidized lipoproteins as culprits. This being
the case, accusations against chemically- stable, basically non-oxidizable
saturated fat don't make sense. Most people who find fault with saturated
fats do not really understand that our cells are busy making saturated
fatty acids all the time from carbohydrates and excess protein.

Passwater: Do tropical oils cause heart disease?

Enig: No they don't. Several studies have shown that there is no
increase in heart disease in countries or communities where most of the
fat is either coconut oil or palm oil. Palm oil that is not extensively
refined has very high levels of antioxidants, and coconut oil has high
levels of very useful medium chain fatty acids. There are many older
research studies that showed that adding quite a bit of coconut oil to the
diet of persons having high blood cholesterol reduced their level of
cholesterol. Dr. George Blackburn from Harvard Medical School has written
an extensive review on this topic. [25]

It is unfortunate that this misinformation about these oils became so
widespread because they are very stable oils that have unique functional
properties and products made with them as the fat component usually have
far less fat and therefore fewer calories. Needless to say, they would
also have virtually no TFAs which are unquestionably atherogenic. When
coconut oil was used in the manufacture of crackers, very little fat was
added to each cracker, but the crackers did not become stale before they
could be purchased. Now the fat-free crackers become very stale very
quickly, and the crackers made with the more unsaturated oils are higher
in fat and are greasy or they appear drier because they are made with the
high-temperature melting partially hydrogenated oils. Deep fried foods
made in these oils never absorb quite as much fat as they do when they are
fried with the more unsaturated oils.

Passwater: Speaking of deep fried french fries, I notice that the
Community Nutrition Institute is pleading with McDonald's to go back to
their old cooking oil, an animal tallow. CNI cited higher risks of
coronary heart disease, coronary artery disease, and low birth-weight
babies due to the partially hydrogenated vegetable oil that McDonald's has
been using since 1990. [26]

Enig: Yes, when I analyzed the oils, I found that the percentage of
fat that was saturated fat in their french fries dropped from 49% to 24%
when McDonald's switched from animal tallow to partially hydrogenated
vegetable oil. But the percentage of fat that was TFAs rose from 5% to
42-48%. McDonald's own study showed that the total amount of fat in its
fries rose from 17.6% to 27.9% Recently, McDonald's has again switched to
an oil that has cut the TFAs in half. But, those who insist on eating
french fries were better off when the beef tallow was used.

Passwater: Why were earlier researchers misled about saturated fats
and heart disease?

Enig: The simplistic, abbreviated story of how some of the anti-
saturated fat rhetoric got started and then took a strangle hold, is that
when laboratory animals were fed semi-purified and artificially saturated
(fat) diets, the animals actually became deficient in essential fatty
acids. As a result, these animals developed lesions that were incorrectly
defined as the equivalent of heart disease. This "research" was touted as
showing an effect of "saturated" fat. Then when Dr. Ancel Keys of the
University of Minnesota reported that hydrogenated fats were responsible
for heart disease [15], the response from the threatened edible oil
industry was to claim that it was only the saturated fats that were the
culprits, and that the industry would get rid of the problem by only
partially hydrogenating the oils. From that point on, the saturated fats
stood "guilty as accused," even though study after study showed that there
was no relationship between saturated fat intake and the development of
heart disease.

In fact, some of the studies showed that there was less progression
of the disease process when the saturated component was higher. [27]
Usually the proponents of the lipid hypothesis managed to squelch the
effect of these reports. Of course the partially hydrogenated oils were
really very little different in saturated fat level than the fats and oils
that had been called "hydrogenated," but the public and the media and many
of the naive researchers didn't know that.

As time went on, the whole heart disease agenda became a
multi-million dollar business that was benefiting the researchers funded
by the part of the National Institutes of Health that deals with heart
disease, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The only people not
benefiting were and are the consumers who are continuing to get more and
more heart disease at higher and higher costs. The consumer may not be
dying from heart disease as often as they were 30 years ago, but they are
undergoing more surgery such as by-pass and angioplasty, and they are
swallowing more expensive cholesterol-lowering drugs. All in all, while
the so-called mortality figures have decreased, the incidence has greatly
increased.

Of course, the ill-trained consumer activist groups have added to the
problem by continuing to publish their own misinterpretations of the
science, and this in turn, is further publicized in the media.

Passwater: Well, I see that you haven't backed off and cow-towed to
the consensus pseudo-scientists that form opinions without looking closely
at the data. I would like you to explain the real facts and their proper
interpretation for the benefit of our readers. So let's look at fats and
cholesterol, TFAs and the obesity trigger, and your thoughts on helping
the Health Food Industry in Part III.

Health Risks from Processed Foods and Trans Fats: An
interview with Mary Enig, Ph.D.

:cool: TJ :cool: