I know this isn't a vegan query but it's a question from a friend who eats (and feeds her baby) lots of dairy and meat...

what is with the transfats in dairy? a phone call to their companies just gets the reply that they are naturally occuring and "different" than manufactured transfats. from what i understand a triglyceride is something that the body just can't process or eliminate, no matter the source. so... trans fats are in dairy and in meat as well? naturally occuring in both and just the same as eating hydrogenated oils?

gimme the dirt here peeps, the answer may have an enormous impact on one family's eating habits and that would be great.

thanks!!

coco,

I think you may have more luck over at the Price-Pottenger Foundation. Since they advocate a meat-based diet, they must defend it against charges of being unhealthy and may have some kind of science to explain what you are asking about. Good luck!

Here's the American Heart Assosiation's condemnation of transfat:

[www.americanheart.org]

Here's more:

[www.bantransfats.com]

My suspicion is that the transfat that occurs in farm raised milk and meat is not natural and good, but is the result of the unnatural diet fed to the animals. It is just as bad as the directly manufactured transfats.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2009 04:02PM by brome.

Healthier milk and meat from animals grown wholly on green grass:

[www.eatwild.com]

Hmm... I don't know much about the details of meat and dairy, but I do know that Dr Collin Campbell released a book ( The China Study ) not so long ago that has catagorical evidence that they are both carcinogenic at the very least.

This books findings were drawn from the largest nutritional study ever conducted, examining over 800 million Chinese. The study was headed by Dr Campbell and partnered by a number of universities as well as the Chinese Academy of Preventitive Medicine.

I have that book Lightform, not sure what info it has on transfats though... I'll see if I can find it (I'm only mostly unpacked!) and check it out.

Brome, that bantransfats site had this to say

"the kind of naturally occurring trans fat found in small amounts in pomegranates, cabbage, peas, or the type found in the meat and milk of cows, sheep and goats."

Interesting but not exactly enough to convince non-vegan to cut out animal products. Transfats are a hot button topic right now (my mom was aware of them in the 70's, how weird is it that it takes that long for things to hit the mainstream?) it's easier to get people to sit up and listen to that than it is to quote the China Study book unfortunately.

That site about CLA "conjugated linoleic acid" is interesting. One would think we could just eat healthy greens ourselves and be full of it instead of having to eat the grass eaters though.

Oh, and what is with the pomegranites, cabbage and peas having transfats? WOW!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2009 10:35PM by coco.

coco,

I know that vegetal transfats are minuscule in amounts, so probably not harmful if, um, harmful. Maybe this is a case of "animal-based--bad," "produce-based--not bad".

i'm having a hard time finding any info specific to this... her low fat stuff (milk, yogurt etc) says zero transfats on the label but if it's under 0.2 grams per serving it can be labelled like that so who knows. if there are 30 servings in a block of cheese, that ends up being a LOT of transfats she's eating and feeding to her little one! she's unhappy about this but if i can't come up with any hard data for her i think she'll just ignore it and continue on. she's interested in health and being healthy though so if i find something scientific to present her chances are she'll at least seriously cut back on the dairy. since we met she's reduced her meat consumption and cut out a whole whack of other consumable garbage. i think just knowing someone personally who follows a healthy lifestyle is encouragement enough sometimes, i think she felt like a wierdo for even thinking about this stuff before we became friends. after i gave birth at the cottage on my own she decided to go against the advice of her family and have a midwife (what she wanted all along) so having a friend of like-mind has been a positive thing for her. she started getting serious about recycling lately too, she's on the path...! i KNOW she'll continue cleaning up her diet with each bit of info she comes across. i am not the preachy sort about this kind of thing but when asked i like to have something to say so thanks a bunch for the links and info so far guys, i really appreciate it

coco,

As a childless person who remembers childhood and who studied early chilhood education, my take is this: people overuse dairy products anyhow, as sweetie only needs them for formative brain development, and excess beyond that can be carcinogenic, so a gradual decrease in animal products cannot but help and should not induce panic in mama. Continue to be a good example, and your friend will find her own resolution to this through reasoning(in the absence of hard data).

she really likes her dairy and meat and thinks she's doing a good thing feeding it to her family though. there is a strong arguement for it, it just doesn't seem as strong as the arguement against it for me but then again, i grew up with a hippy veggie mama so... i'll just keep doing what i'm doing and hope it rubs off on her. she is sick right now and just barely gotten over a cold on top of that and we're feeling great in this house so there's a living example that might have some impact. we shall see. i'll keep researching in the meantime and check out that price pottenger site some more too...

[www.americanheart.org]
"Limit the saturated fat in your diet. If you don't eat a lot of saturated fat, you won't be consuming a lot of trans fat."

is that another way of saying don't eat animal products? ever since reading about this in "in defense of food" i notice it more and more. the focus in on the nutrient instead of the whole food. you can't say "don't eat meat, don't consume dairy" in any official way, just skirt the issue with "don't eat saturated fat". weird.

[www.lowfatlifestyle.com]
"It's not clear if trans fats that occur naturally have the same effect on cholesterol and heart disease as those produced by hydrogenation of vegetable oils."

that's just not going to be good enough for my friend i'm afraid.

anyone know anything about this waitalk site? [www.acneboard.com] i didn't find any specific info there but there seems to be a lot of science floating around. i'll ask there, just wondering if anyone here had any knowledge of them...

Coco,
Interesting! I wasn't even aware of naturally occuring transfats. But I think you might be confusing terms however.

"from what i understand a triglyceride is something that the body just can't process or eliminate, no matter the source."

From wikipedia,
"Most natural fats contain a complex mixture of individual triglycerides"
[en.wikipedia.org]

So, the term around triglycerides does not necessarily relate to transfats.

i love avocadoes

they lower triglyceride levels

i liked the articles

and was going to read up on more

but too much reading REALLY hurts my brain

OWWWyyyyyyyy! ( rubbing my cerebellum and whatnot)