TTC - Eating Trans Fats (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils) can REDUCE female fertility A LOT

[SofiaAmes]

Has anyone seen this article about a recent scientific study about trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils). It seems that even a few grams (what you might get in a serving of breakfast cereal or a donut) of trans fats can increase a woman's INfertility by a HUGE amount. I would highly recommend reading the ingredients of all prepackaged foods. When my father (scientist) started warning me about hydrogenated vegetable oils, I was amazed by how many things contained them. eg Most store bought baked goods, cookies, crackers, margarine, dips, spreads, breakfast cereals, preprepared dinners, fried foods at most fast food places, soups, drinks....

Good luck to all of you. (I have told my story here before, but in a nutshell....miracles do happen....my dh had a vasectomy reversal which he was told was completely unsuccessful...no sperm at all. However despite his SUPPOSED lack of sperm, a few months later I became pregnant with our son and then two years later after only 1 month of trying, pregnant with our daughter.) Doctors do make mistakes.

I caught an article on breakfast news - something like: if 2% of your daily intake is from Transfats then your fertility is reduced by 73%.

Daily calorie intake that is.

Blimey - what would amount to that?

This story was in the Daily Mail today, too.

My understanding is that as little as one serving a day of biscuits or chips can make a difference.

Which goes to show that the best thing to do is to steer clear of processed food.
This really is the only rule you need.

Unfortunately manufacturers don't have to list trans fats as an ingredient. And many restaurant meals contain them too.

Would amend Moondog's advice to 'steer clear of anything that lists hydrogenated fat/oil on the label'.

Edam,it's simpler to go by the procesed food thing.
I am pretty clued up on nutrition but it strikes me that it really is very hard for a lot of people to work out.

My inner voice is always saying
'Has anybody buggered about with this?'

If the answer is yes,I put it back.

i saw this in the 'sun' as well. rather shocking that one biscuit could make all the difference.

I think the goverment should put a higher tax on bad food and make healthly food cheaper, i mean if you look at all the cheaper stuff in supermarkets it is always crisps, chocolate, biscuites etc.

Sorry rant over. x

yes, it also clogs up your arteries too.

I always say, if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it

At least here in the usa, all food sold (in supermarkets) is required to list in big letters if it contains transfat. And the restaurants are now being put to task as well. KFC and another big chain (can't remember which...maybe burger king) have agreed to change their oil that they fry in to non-transfat oil.
One of the things I missed the most while living in England (and I was in London too!) was the ready availability of truly healthy (and tasty) pre-prepared foods that we have here in the usa (particularly in Los Angeles where I live). As a working mother who cares about the healthy of my children, I found it really hard in London to fit everything in.

At risk of being controversial....I think it's a pity that the europeans have put so much effort into banning GM foods when there is no clear scientific evidence that they are bad for you, while they have put very little effor into things that are scientifically proven to be bad for you like transfats (and cigarette smoking....smoking in public places has been banned in most major us cities for years). In the usa all the nutritional information about foods has to be listed on the label AND even fast food restaurants (and soon all restaurants) must clearly post near where you order the food the nutritional value of what you are ordering. Of course none of this actually helps people who don't care....which is why we have so many obese people here in the usa (and increasingly so in the uk too).

Hi WWW. Things are going well here. My dh is still in London, so between work and the kids I just am too busy most of the time to post on mumsnet, but I still lurk silently! Send me an email....I'd love to hear from you. My email is still the same.

ps. My 6 year old ds was reading the ingredients on their breakfast cereal this morning....he wasn't too impressed when he got to the millions of grams of sugar. My one concession to junk food in the house is that I let the kids have sugary cereals ....though I don't let them have the ones with hydrogenated vegetable oils (most of them by the way).

By the way, Special K with Berries is a nice healthy cereal that kids LOVE because of the pink berries (just freeze dried, so healthy).

funny you should say that about the restuarants. I visited my DH when he was working near San Francisco & was really put off entering places which had a certificate staying some of the ingredients were proven carcinogenics..what amazed me was people carried on eating there ( Romanos Macaroni Grill)

MM,I think all bbqd meat is carcinogenic.
Sofia,Special K isn't healthy,it's procesed crap.It may be low cal but that don't mean it's good for you!

moondog - I would love to have you over to my house - where do you live ?

btw the restuarant is an italian - pasta too. Full of crap of course.

Haha,would you MM?

I live in North Wales and Turkey.

yeah - don't be scared

that 'drop a jeans size' bolleaux pisses me off. And the supermarkets are doing 2 for £2 on boxes of Special K. A bowlful contains 8% of daily sugar intake and 10% of salt! In 30g of cereal!

As compared to the cereals marketed to children, Special K has much less sugar. My children don't get sugar in anything else on a regular basis (ie besides birthday parties and special occasions). Some amount of sugar is important in a well rounded diet and I have chosen to let them have their sugar in their breakfast cereal. I guess it's sort of because of my childhood. I was brought up super healthy food, including only granola and muesli for breakfast. We weren't even allowed peanut butter (an american staple) because of the aflotoxin. My only complaint about the lack of junk food I was given as a child was the lack of sugary cereals (and I don't even like sweet things as a rule). I think that one has to do everything in moderation and that includes only feeding healthy non-processed foods to your children.
You are correct, by the way, Moondog, all bbq'd food has carcinogens in it. But then again, so does broccoli. If you analyze the naturally occurring chemicals in broccoli (as my father has done), there are plenty of known carcinogens in it and in most vegtables. That doesn't mean you shouldn't eat them. You should just eat them in moderation. (Anyone seen the case last week of the american woman who died from drinking too much water).

I do try to give my kids oatmeal at least 2 or 3 times a week, but they insist in burying it with honey....so I think it sort of defeats the healthy aspect of it!