The Margarine Hoax

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The Margarine Hoax

 

 

for complete story: http://www.nexusmagazine.com/margarine.html

 

THE MARGARINE HOAX

--Margarine, Fatty Acids and Your Health--

 

To maintain good health it is important that we have the correct intake of omega

fatty acids in our diets.

Hydrogenated fats like margarine are non-foods with toxic effects and should be

avoided at any cost.

 

 

--

 

Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 4, #2 (February-March 1997).

PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor

Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381

From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com

 

 

by Dane A. Roubos, D.C. ©1995-97

5554 Nantucket Place

Minnetonka, MN 55345, USA

 

This article was extracted in part from Blazing Tattles,

vol. 5, nos 10 and 11, 1996, and further updated by the author.

Blazing Tattles!,

PO Box 1073, Half Moon Bay,

CA 94019 USA.

Email: blazing

www.concentric.net/~blazingt

 

 

 

--

 

 

HEALTH FOOD LABELS MAY DECEIVE

Have you ever spent extra money to purchase a 'higher-quality' health food or

vitamin product, only to discover some time later that it wasn't all it was

claimed to be? It has happened in our family more than once. Our most recent

experience was with a line of vegetable oils sold in health food stores and

co-ops. The attractively labelled bottles touted their special processing

techniques, implying low temperatures and the superior quality of their product.

We had used their canola oil for many years when I decided to write the company

with some questions and request information on their oils.

 

We were shocked to find out that the " cold-pressed " and " lightly refined " canola

oil was subjected to the same high temperatures (450°-500° Fahrenheit, or

232°-260° Celsius) and most of the chemical processing steps suffered by regular

grocery store oils! The main difference was that they didn't use chemical

solvents to extract the oil from the seeds or add preservatives or defoamer.

 

Disappointed, and determined to find a source of healthy oils for my family, I

began a search for accurate information on the production of food oils to

supplement my scanty knowledge. This article is the culmination of that

exploration to date, and will provide you with information you need to make

healthier selections of foods and oils for your family.

 

 

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATTY ACIDS

Fatty acids are essential for our cells to function normally and stay alive. The

cell membranes allow the passage of necessary minerals and molecules in and out

of our cells. Healthy cell membranes discourage dangerous chemicals and

organisms like bacteria, viruses, moulds and parasites from entering the cell.

These membranes also maintain chemical receptor sites for hormones, the body's

crucial messengers. Fatty acids are involved in countless chemical processes in

our bodies and are used as building blocks for certain hormones.

 

Two types of fatty acids & emdash;omega-3 and omega-6 & emdash;cannot be made by our

bodies and therefore must be obtained through our diets. They are called

" essential fatty acids " (EFAs), and if we have an adequate supply we can use

these EFAs to manufacture the other fatty acids we need.

 

EFA supplementation has been helpful to many people with allergies, anaemia,

arthritis, cancer, candida, depression, diabetes, dry skin, eczema, fatigue,

heart disease, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, premenstrual syndrome (PMS),

psoriasis, sluggish metabolism, viral infections, etc., and in easing the

addiction recovery process.

 

 

 

TRANS- FATS AND CONFUSED CHEMISTRY

Naturally-occurring fatty acids contain double bonds of a particular

configuration, referred to as " cis- " by biochemists. The cis- causes the

molecules to be bent so that the two hydrogen atoms are on the same side of the

double bond. This means the bonds between the molecules are weaker due to their

irregular shape, resulting in a lower melting point & emdash;or, in supermarket

shopper lingo, they are solid at room temperature. Fats with either trans-

double bonds or no bonds ( " saturated " ) are solid at room temperature.

 

Margarine is made by adding hydrogen atoms to the fat molecules to make them

more saturated, raising the melting point of the fat so it remains a solid at

room temperature, i.e., the margarine won't run all over the table. This

process, called " hydrogenation " , requires the presence of a metal catalyst and

temperatures of about 500°F (260°C) for the reaction to take place. It causes

about half of the cis- bonds to flip over into a trans- configuration.

 

Hydrogenation became popular in the US because this type of oil doesn't spoil or

become rancid as readily as regular oil and therefore has a longer shelf-life.

You can leave a cube of margarine sitting out for years and it will not be

touched by moulds, insects or rodents. Margarine is a non-food! It would appear

that only humans are foolish enough to eat it! Because the fats in margarine are

partially hydrogenated (i.e., not fully saturated), the manufacturers can claim

it is " polyunsaturated " and market it to us as a healthy food.

 

Many other fatty chemicals are also created when oils are partially

hydrogenated. In Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill (p. 103), Udo Erasmus stated:

" So many different compounds can be made during partial hydrogenation that they

stagger the imagination... Needless to say, the industry is hesitant to fund or

publicize thorough and systematic studies on the kinds of chemicals produced and

their effects on health. " 1

 

Erasmus also quoted a statement about hydrogenation, made by Herbert Dutton, one

of the oldest and most knowledgable oil chemists in North America. It basically

boils down to this: because of the known and unknown health effects of these

hydrogenation by-products, government health regulations would not allow the

process to be used for making edible products if it were to be introduced today.

 

Another 'side-effect' of hydrogenation is that a residue of toxic metals,

usually nickel and aluminium, is left behind in the finished product. These

metals are used as catalysts in the reaction, but they accumulate in our cells

and nervous system where they poison enzyme systems and alter cellular

functions, endangering health and causing a wide variety of problems. These

toxic metals are difficult to eliminate without special detoxification

techniques, and our 'toxic load' increases steadily with small exposures over

time. Since they are increasingly found in our air, food and water, the

cumulative doses can add up to dangerous levels over time.

 

Since trans- fats don't occur in nature, our bodies don't know how to deal with

them effectively and they act as poisons to crucial cellular reactions. The body

tries to use them as it would the cis- form, and they wind up in cell membranes

and other places they shouldn't be.

 

In recent years, measurements of trans- fats in the membranes of human red blood

cells have been as high as 20 per cent, when the figure should be zero. While

red blood cells were used because they're easy to access, it's safe to assume

that most other cell membranes in the body also contain these unnatural fats.

 

Trans- fatty acids in cell membranes weaken the membrane's protective structure

and function. This alters normal transport of minerals and other nutrients

across the membrane and allows disease microbes and toxic chemicals to get into

the cell more easily. The result: sick, weakened cells, poor organ function and

an exhausted immune system & emdash;in short, lowered resistance and increased

risk of disease.

 

Trans- fats can also derail the body's normal mechanisms for eliminating

cholesterol. The liver normally puts excess cholesterol in the bile and sends it

to the gall bladder, which empties into the small intestine just below the

stomach. Trans- fats block the normal conversion of cholesterol in the liver and

contribute to elevated cholesterol levels in the blood. They also cause an

increase in the amount of low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), considered to be one

of the main instigators of arterial disease (hardening of the arteries).

Meanwhile, trans- fats lower the amount of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)

which help protect the cardiovascular system from the adverse effects of the

LDLs. Trans- fats also increase the level of apolipoprotein A, a substance in

the blood which is another risk factor for heart disease. Indeed, trans- fats

have now been shown to cause even worse problems than saturated animal fats.

 

Another adverse effect of trans- fats in the diet is an enhancement of the

body's pro-inflammatory hormones (prostaglandin E2) and inhibition of the

anti-inflammatory types (prostaglandin E1 and E3). This undesirable influence

exerted by trans- fats on prostaglandin balance may render you more vulnerable

to inflammatory conditions that don't want to heal! Prostaglandins also regulate

many metabolic functions. Tiny amounts can cause significant changes in allergic

reaction, blood pressure, clotting, cholesterol levels, hormone activity, immune

function and inflammatory response, to name just a few.

 

Many of these problems with trans- fats have been known or suspected for 15 to

20 years, but have been largely ignored in the US. In Europe, trans- fats are

restricted in food products, and some countries allow no more than 0.1 per cent

trans- fatty acid content. In contrast, margarines in the US may contain up to

30 to 50 per cent! Of course, the food industry denies there is any problem with

this.

 

Meanwhile, scientific evidence continues to mount that trans- fats contribute to

heart disease and possibly other conditions as well. Even the conservative

Harvard Health Letter referred to them as " the new enemy " .2

 

 

 

VESTED INTERESTS

According to Russell Jaffe, M.D., a noted medical researcher, hog farmers will

not feed trans- fats to their animals because the pigs will die if they eat

them. When Dr Jaffe contacted the US Department of Agriculture, he found that it

knew all about this but

 

 

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