Keto Info Week 4/19

[spEEdfrEEk]

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: