134 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.consequences, when you see the words partially hydrogenated on the
side of a box, consider it poisonous and throw it in the trash.
The government doesn't require manufacturers to disclose how
much trans fat is in their products. Trans fats are surely cancer-
promoting and raise your cholesterol as much as saturated fat.^33
Considering that they also reduce HDL (the good cholesterol), trans
fats may be even more atherogenic than even saturated fatty acids.^34
Convincing evidence from the Nurses Health Study and others indi-
cate that trans fats are as closely associated with heart attacks as the
fats in animal products.^35
In a press release in 1990, McDonald's announced, "McDonald's
french fries to be cooked in cholesterol-free 100 percent vegetable
oil." The switch was to partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening.
Now all the fast-food giants — McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's,
Arby's, and Hardee's, as well as almost every brand of french fries in
the freezer case of your supermarket — are just as bad for your heart
as if they were fried in pig fat.
Trans fats are found ubiquitously in processed food: crackers, cook-
ies, cakes, frozen foods, and snacks. Most of these enticing desserts,
fried foods, and convenience foods are deadly, heart-attack-causing
foods, even if they contain no animal products and no cholesterol,
because of the trans fats they contain. Even Orville Redenbacher's
natural microwavable popcorn contains artery-clogging trans fats.More than two years ago, the Center for Science in the Public In-
terest petitioned the FDA to count trans fat as saturated fat on labels
and to ban claims like "low cholesterol" or "low saturated fat" on
foods that are high in trans fats. The FDA may eventually move for-
ward; meanwhile, those in the nutritional know are outraged by the
FDA's political catering to the food manufacturers, when we know
these fats are responsible for as much as 25 percent of all heart
attacks.The Fatty Conclusion
There is no question that a high-fat diet increases the risk of many
cancers. This has been demonstrated in hundreds of animal and hu-
man studies. An extensive overview of the fat-diet link recently pub-
lished in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concludes that it's
not only the amount of fat but the type of fat that is linked to increased