Whether you maintain or spoil your health is up to you. Nature never intended your loss of physical or mental health.
What is Trans-Fat?
It is an unhealthy substance made through the chemical hydrogenation of vegetable oil. The process converts the oil into a semi-solid hydrogenated substance with an improved shelf life and flavor stability. Chemically, it is unsaturated fat that brings several harms and unhealthy side effects. Natural trans-fat that meat and dairy carry as one of their healthful contents is not that harmful. But, frozen pizza, snack foods, refrigerated dough products, coffee creamer, margarine, fast-food, crackers, cookies, etc. contain it profusely and harmfully.
What Harms does Trans-Fat Cause to the Body?
It causes the following major harms to a person’s health.
- The human body has both the bad (LDL) and the good (HDL) cholesterol. Trans-fat increases the level of bad cholesterol and lowers that of good cholesterol.
- Its frequent or regular intake increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart-attack.
- It also increases the risk of stroke.
- It makes its eater an obese.
- Taking them regularly increases the risk of developing colon cancer.
- Its high concentration makes the body cells resistant to insulin and they eventually stop responding to insulin activity. This increases the blood glucose level abnormally and the person falls into the pre-diabetic category and finally leads to develop type-2 diabetes.
- Their presence in the blood releases some toxic molecules which clog the blood vessels. The arteries become narrower and the blood flow through them gets badly obstructed.
Health Problems Associated with Trans-Fat
Trans-fat causes a lot of health problems such as:
1. Alzheimer’s disease
Elaidic acid is an important trans-fat present in most of the processed foods. It is known to cause Alzheimer’s disease in those who take processed foods in daily routine.
2. Cardiovascular diseases
Trans-fat blocks the arteries due to the accumulation of LDL (bad cholesterol) and the lower level of HDL (good cholesterol) in blood. This blockage of arteries leads to cardiovascular diseases.
3. Diabetes mellitus
Trans-fat makes the body cells insulin resistant or completely non-responding to this hormone. This eventually leads to Diabetes Mellitus.
4. Stroke
Trans-fat increases the bad cholesterol level in blood which clogs the arteries that supply oxygen and other nutrients to the brain. The result is a stroke.
5. Obesity
Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet that is low in saturated and trans fats and high in fruits and vegetables is beneficial for health. High levels of trans-fat in your food and blood cause weight gain and you become obese after taking them for a few weeks.
6. Retina damage
Trans-fat is harmful to eyes too, the tiny capillaries that supply oxygenated blood to your retina get blocked due to the high amount of trans-fat in your blood. This is detrimental to the function of the retina and your eyes get damaged ultimately.
7. Breast Cancer
A study suggests that eating a lot of trans fats may increase breast cancer risk. The higher the level of trans-fat in the blood, the more the chances are for a woman to develop breast cancer.
8. Colorectal cancer
Frequent consumption of trans-fat increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer by 86 percent as compared to its low consumption.
9. Gallstones
Those who take a great amount of trans-fat regularly are at risk of developing gallstone disease 23% more than otherwise.
10. Heart attack
Those who take less trans-fat in their diet are comparatively safer than those who eat processed food, pizza, and burgers frequently in their routine food habits. The excess of unsaturated fatty acids in the blood increases bad cholesterol which clogs the coronary arteries, thus causing heart-attack.
Also Read: Moreover, a woman can wisely create her customized diet plan, which includes her natural health boosters. She can select or reject food items to make the best diet plans for women for glowing skin.
