Off-Topic: Trans Fat Substitutes may Boost Blood Sugar Levels

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Trans Fat Substitutes May Increase Blood Sugar

Feb. 9 (iVillage Total Health) -- As many restaurants and cooks rush

to take artery-clogging trans fatty acids from their menus,

researchers have found that some of the replacement fats may

increase blood sugar.

Results of the study, which was conducted in part by researchers at

Brandeis University in Massachusetts and the Malaysian Palm Oil

Board, were published online in the January 15 issue of Nutrition &

Metabolism.

Researchers used 30 volunteers for the four-week study, which

involved feeding them meals from diets prepared with one of three

different cooking oils. Each subject eventually consumed meals from

all three diets. The first diet used palm olein, a saturated fat

derived from palm oil. The second used a blend of 30 percent soybean

oil, 30 percent palm olein and 40 percent partially hydrogenated

soybean oil. The third oil used interesterified fat, prepared by

chemically modifying molecules in soybean oil and palm olein through

a process called interesterification.

Researchers noted that interesterification is a new method of

modifying fats in commercially sold cooking oils that replaces

unhealthy trans fatty acids -- known more commonly as trans fats.

These fats are the basis of the lards, spreads and cooking oils used

to prepare foods.

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Researchers took blood samples before, during and after the test

period for levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins,

high-density lipoproteins, triglycerides and blood sugar. They found

that the interesterified fats adversely affected metabolism of

lipoproteins and glucose compared to the soybean oil or palm olein.

" In this study we discovered that trans fat also has a weak negative

influence on blood glucose, " researcher K.C. said in a press

release. " The newer replacement for trans fat, so-called

interesterified fat, appears even worse in that regard, raising

glucose 20 percent in a month. "

Researchers said further studies were needed on the insulin

metabolism with the new fats and to determine if the effects they

observed were unique to the Malaysian population they studied.

Copyright 2007 iVillage Total Health.