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Letter published in the Wall Street Journal,
August 10, 2006
By Mary G. Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon
Dear Editors:
Mr. Sokolov's defense of trans fats (July 27,
2006) misses several important points. Trans fats in Crisco
and other vegetable shortenings are cheap and do indeed increase the
shelf life of processed foods, but the scientific evidence continues
to show that they contribute to a myriad of health problems, shortening
human life and exacting a heavy toll in health costs.
Trans fats inhibit cell membrane function, interfere
with the enzyme systems the body needs to eliminate carcinogens and
toxins (thus contributing to cancer), inhibit insulin receptors (causing
type 2 diabetes) and decrease hormone production (leading to infertility).
Most tragically, trans fats in the diet of pregnant women contribute
to low birth weight babies and inhibit visual and neurological function;
they lower fat content in mothers milk and depress learning ability,
particularly in situations of stress.
Mr. Sokolov argues that trans fats are just as likely
as other fats to make us fat. But recent research from Wake Forest University
indicates that trans fats are more likely to cause weight gain
than other fats (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=45100).
Furthermore, when manufacturers use trans fats for frying, more fat
ends up in the food. Food fried in trans fats is much greasier than
food fried in saturated animal fat such as tallow or lard.
The food industry justifies the use of trans
fats with the claim that the alternative, saturated fats, raise cholesterol
and contribute to heart disease. This premise is completely false. Before
the introduction of trans fats into the food supply, Americans
consumed large amounts of saturated fat in butter, lard, tallow, coconut
oil and palm oil, yet myocardial infarction (heart attack) was unknown.
Today, the European countries with the highest level of saturated fat
consumption (France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Finland
and Austria) have the lowest rates of heart disease and the countries
with the lowest level of saturated fat consumption (Ukraine, Macedonia,
Croatia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Georgia) have the highest
rates of heart disease. Saturated animal fats provide many nutrients
that protect our most important muscle, the heart, including cholesterol,
which is vital to the function of our muscles. A recent study found
that saturated fats can actually reverse atherosclerosis (Am J Clin
Nutr 80 2004 1175-84).
Mr. Sokolov is right when he asserts that people will
continue to eat fried food and all of us will continue to pay for soaring
health costs when that food is fried in partially hydrogenated vegetable
oil. Liquid polyunsaturated vegetable oils are not a good alternative
as they become dangerously rancid when heated, hence the unpleasant
taste. The appropriate action for the Chicago City Council and other
government agencies is to encourage a return to stable, healthy saturated
fats such as palm oil, coconut oil, tallow and lard in processed and
fried foods.
Mary G. Enig, PhD, President
The Maryland Nutritionists Association
Sally Fallon, President
The Weston A. Price Foundation
About the Authors
 Mary
G. Enig, PhD is an expert of international renown in the field of lipid
biochemistry. She has headed a number of studies on the content and effects of
trans fatty acids in America and Israel, and has successfully challenged
government assertions that dietary animal fat causes cancer and heart disease.
Recent scientific and media attention on the possible adverse health effects of
trans fatty acids has brought increased attention to her work. She is
a licensed nutritionist, certified by the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists,
a qualified expert witness, nutrition consultant to individuals, industry and
state and federal governments, contributing editor to a number of scientific publications,
Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and President of the Maryland Nutritionists
Association. She is the author of over 60 technical papers and presentations,
as well as a popular lecturer. Dr. Enig is currently working on the exploratory
development of an adjunct therapy for AIDS using complete medium chain saturated
fatty acids from whole foods. She is Vice-President of the Weston A Price Foundation
and Scientific Editor of Wise Traditions as well as the author of Know
Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils,
and Cholesterol, Bethesda Press, May 2000. She is the mother of three healthy
children brought up on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.
 Sally
Fallon is the author of
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct
Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD), a well-researched,
thought-provoking guide to traditional foods with a startling message: Animal
fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary
for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection
from disease and optimum energy levels. She joined forces with Enig again to
write Eat Fat, Lose Fat, and has authored numerous articles on the
subject of diet and health. The President of the Weston A. Price Foundation
and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk,
Sally is also a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker, and community
activist. Her four healthy children were raised on whole foods including butter,
cream, eggs and meat.
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