Eat Trans Fat, Get Big Belly

Eat Trans Fat, Get Big Belly


Trans Fats Add -- and Move -- Weight to Belly


By Daniel DeNoon
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang
on Monday, June 12, 2006


June 12, 2006 - Want a big fat belly? Eat lots of trans fats.

Trans fats make you fatter than other foods with the same number of calories -- but that's not all. Researchers at Wake Forest University find that trans fats increase the amount of fat around the belly. They do this not just by adding new fat, but also by moving fat from other areas to the belly.

"Trans fat is worse than anticipated," Wake Forest researcher Lawrence L. Rudel, PhD, says in a news release. "Diets rich in trans fat cause a redistribution of fat tissue into the abdomen and lead to a higher body weight even when the total dietary calories are controlled."

Rudel colleague Kylie Kavanagh, DVM, reported the findings at this week's annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Washington.

In the study, researchers fed 51 male vervet monkeys a western-style diet -- that is, 35% of their diet was fat. Half the monkeys got a lot of trans fat, totaling 8% of their diet. The other monkeys were fed unsaturated fats such as olive oil.

Both types of diets were calorie-controlled. In theory, the monkeys should not have gained weight.

But they did.

Over six years -- what would, in humans, be a 20-year span -- the monkeys who ate unsaturated fats upped their body weight by 1.8%.

Those fed trans fats packed on 7.2%. In humans, that would be enough weight gain to significantly increase risk of diabetes and heart disease.

"Trans fatty acid consumption increases weight gain," Kavanagh says in a news release. "In the world of diabetes, everybody knows that just 5% weight loss makes enormous difference. This little difference [of weight gain seen in the study] was biologically quite significant."

Trans fats are found in vegetable shortenings, some kinds of margarine, and in manufactured baked goods such as cookies, crackers, and snack foods. A major source of trans fat in American diets is fast food fried in the stuff.

So, when is the medical profession going to admit that a Calorie is not a Calorie?

And when are they going to admit "hey, we were wrong" about promoting trans fats over other fats for the last 20 years?

Rachel

They still haven't apologized for cupping and leeches yet!

I bet if the fat was saturated they wouldn't have gained!!!

Oh! what am I saying!!!! We all know that saturated fat is BADDDDDDD!!!!

Funny thing is, most people will use monkeys as an example of why we humans should be vegetarians.....after all, most monkeys eat plants, right? Yea, maybe so....but they also get a significant amount of animal protein in the bugs, grubs, etc that are eaten along with the plants!!!

Leeches are actually very useful when used in an appropriate manner.

I had the same reaction! Frankly, I don't think we have a prayer of the medical types changing their tune UNTIL nutrition is a required medical school course. And I mean at least a year's worth of nutrition instruction.

That's it, CindySue! I'm reporting you to the Fat Police!

Sunny!

LOL!

I disagree - I'd rather have the future docs get a sound grounding in biochemistry than be fed a year of the same drivel that the establishment teaches RDs. and that's what they'd get with a required nutrition course - what are the chances that they will be taught anything about nutrition that contradicts the USDA food pyramid?

I'd agree only if this was to be an evidence-based nutrition course - meaning actually reading the studies and discussing if they are good studies or not. Not much chance of that happening IMHO.

At least if there is a sound foundation in biochem they can read nutritional studies on their own and draw their own conclusions - and know when something promoted plain contradicts the biochemistry/science.

if instead they are fed 2 semesters of 'sat fat is bad, eating cholesterol is bad, eating grains is good' - what's the point?

Probably pretty good if they attend Albert Einstein's med school and take Dr. Feinman's biochem/nutrition course...

http://www.hscbklyn.edu/kingsbrook/pdf's/Feinman&Makowske.pdf