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.

My mum gave me cocoa pops everyday...I wouldn't NEVER buy them now. We have, much to our health visitors horror, at least 6 cereals circulating. One of them is special K. I have to say I feel pretty rubbish after eating it. DD doesn't have it, prefering to stick to fruit & fibre (described as purple one).

I found a great chart the other day (can't find it now) with all the cereals & the sugar & salt content.

Will post if I manage to find it.

Alterntively, just line them up in the shop, like I do

Fair enough Sofia,but it is still nutritionally void,made as it is with processed white rice.
The only 'good' in cereals like this is the vitamins they fortify them with,whicvh aren't necessary if you are eating a proper diet anyway.

But yes,in the grand scheme of things,there is a lot worse.
I've got rid of the stuff like Fruit 'n Fibfe even.Again,it's processed and has suagar and salt in it.
Not that there is owt wrong with a bit of sugar.
I merely prefer to control its usage myself instead of leaving myself at the mercy of people like Kellogs.

I was so shocked when I actually bothered to sit and work out the actual amount of sugar in a lot of cereals. We have to have a happy medium now.

Is it this one, Mojo? Which?

Australian woman who died because of drinking too much water, (or was there an American one, too?)

Hydrog. fat do have to be includedon the label in UK foods, but they don't label for transfats. Transfats are naturally occuring in some meat products, so am not sure how easily the label could include them.

Back to the subject line I'm confused about fertility declining "73%" for each 2g /day of trans fats. So by the time you eat 4g do you have -46% fertility? Or 73% of what? Takes 73% longer to conceive? 73% more chance of not conceiving each month? Am I missing something or is it very vague in the news coverage?

This link says it's "ovulation-related " infertility. Whatever that means.

This page describs a nutritionist expressing skepticism .

the bit i can't seem to find an answer on is how long the reduction in fertility lasts - is it permanent damage, or does it just apply whilst you eat high amounts of trans-fats?

edam, yes it was thanks - the breakfast breakdown.

So let me get this right...if you eat just 2% of trans fats as your daily diet your fertility drops by 73%. Well that's pretty much everybody on the planet f*ed then isn't it apart from the pulse and nut eating vegans?? Then again they probably wouldn't get pregnant either because their body fat % is too low. How on earth did the human race survive?!

Could I just point out that if you are desperate for really really really really yummy crunchy nutty chocolate laden biscuits....the ones they sell at ikea don't have any hydrogenated vegtable oils.

By the way, Moondog, my father, who is an expert on this stuff insists that one should take a multi vitamin anyway even if you eat a very healthy well rounded diet. (He calls me almost daily to make sure I have eaten mine and given one to my children as well).

flack, I don't know about the australian woman, but there was an american one just last week. Also ovulation related fertility means just that....the production of eggs in a woman. In other words, not the level of sperm in a man.

Basically, my father (I know i quote him a lot, but he really is one of the world's experts on this stuff) has never complained about eating anything in moderation except hydrogenated vegetable oils. It is the only thing that he has told me to avoid completely and totally whenever possible.

Okey dokey point taken. Soooo, I have just been looking at my cupboard contents and the only thing I have found with any mention at all of trans fats is Olivio spread which compares it's level with butter (it's supposedly a lot less). I am definitely not a pulse eating vegan, I sway more towards the 'eat chocolate every day' variety so cannot believe for a minute I have only selected healthy items.
Where no trans fats have been mentioned are there any other ingredients we should be looking out for that have been cunningly been renamed to cover up their trans fat disguise???
For example...I am currently sat here with a packet of Tesco finest half coated triple chocolate cookies (for research purposes only you understand!). Under fat it says ...of which saturates...mono-unsaturates and polyunsaturates. Which is the baddy? Also under ingredients they have vegetable margarine listed. Is this trans fats?

source of transfat I had not considered was things like pub food or fish and chips - anywhere where they reheat and cool the oil over and over causes it to become transfat. I thought I had been doing well and had cut it out completelty until I realised this.

dmmgd, the best thing to do is to look at the actual ingredients rather than the nutritional information. I don't believe that in the uk they are required to differentiate out the trans fats.
The main ingredient you are looking for is hydrogenated vegetable oil. I also suspect that vegetable margarine is the same thing.
Basically, the thing that is bad for you is the hydrogenation process which artificially saturates the unsaturated fats. So, for example, butter is a naturally saturated fat. It can be bad for you in large amounts because it can raise your cholesterol (among other things). However margarine is even worse, because it is an unnaturally saturated (or hydrogenated) fat. My understanding is that it can not only raise your cholesterol, but do all sorts of other harmful things (eg the fertility thing).
The places in your cupboard that you are likely to find hydrogenated vegetable oils are bakery goods, cereals, spreads (like margarine), creamy soups, preprepared foods like tv dinners, frozen pizza, lasagne, etc.
In restaurants you really want to avoid fried foods. Foods used to be fried in oil mixed with lard (a naturally occuring saturated fat) because it tasted better and you can get the high temps. Then some years ago everyone made a fuss about the lard and most fast food places removed it (remember when mcd's did so?). But what they did is replace it with hydrogentated vegetable oils because they still needed something that could withstand the heat and frequency of use. Now, in the usa, that's getting replaced too, but I'm not sure exactly what it's getting replaced with. I haven't researched it too much because I don't generally eat in those types of restaurants.

Can I ask... is Flora light bad? I've always called it margarine... but it says lots of wonderful things on the packet... now I am worried... should I just eat butter?

Interesting re vitamins Sofia.
What does your dad do exactly?
I eat better than 99% of people I reckon (amongst other things,have at least 10 portions of fruit/veg a day) but i may be swayed now.

Ready,that stuff is crap.Eat butter.

I agree with Moondog. Eat butter or if you want it easy spreadable mix with a little olive oil.

I also agree w/moony.

Everything in moderation, including butter, sugar, olive oil, etc.

I don't eat processed food OR artificial sweetners.

Gross.

cos Flora has all good things to say... no hydrogenated oils, monounsaturated etc.

Butter is tastier... but I always thought that the tastier it is, the worse it is for you

I used to rave on and on about taking a vitamin supplement til a nutritionist told my DH that there are risks associated with supplements and that you should get what you need from your food.

I am not disagreeing with you Sofia, I am just trying (badly) to point out that there are so many conflicting pieces of information, it's hard to know what to do for the best.

So much is processed these days... I eat porridge for breakfast, it comes in a packet, does that mean it's processed?

HELP.

Wine is very tasty.
I believe it is excellent for the health.

Ready,rule of thimb is..

'Has someone fucked about with it?'
In case of 'Flora Light',answer is yes.In case of oats,not as much.All food is by definition processed unless you are down on yer hands and knees,munching it from source (in which case,your mouth is doing the processing anyway.)

Moondog... you have calmed me. I will endeavour to ask myself "has this been f*ked with?" Not sure I can give up flora, cos if I eat butter instead I will be the size of a house!! How about I just have plain bread (oh wait, that's been f*ked with by the baker!)...

Is it possible to take this too far?

Ah, but when I said that it was a bloody disgrace that a nursery was serving Angel Delight that is very high in transfats quite a few people were very sneery indeed. I think we are only just discovering what transfats are doing to our bodies. Did you know that even if you eat low calorie food, transfats will make you put on weight? Or that they cause heart disease and all manner of all kinds of inflammatory conditions?

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