Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Junk food link to dementia
Warning over diet high in trans fats
PEOPLE with high levels of a type of fat linked to junk food in their blood are 75% more likely to develop dementia, a study warns.
Researchers pinpointed trans fats, also called trans fatty acids, which are industrially produced and found in food with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.
They can also be in commercially baked and fried foods made with vegetable shortening, such as chips and doughnuts.
Conventional frying also can create trans fats, which raise bad cholesterol and lower the good kind. They occur naturally in small amounts in certain meat and dairy foods.
Trans fats were banned in the United States last year, with some extensions given until 2019.
But the US Food and Drug Administration allowed foods with less than 0.5
grams be labelled as containing zero. Study author Dr Toshiharu Ninomiya, of Kyushu University in Japan, said: “These results give even more reason to avoid trans fats.
“In the United States, the small amounts still allowed in foods can really add up and trans fats are still allowed in many countries.”
The research involved more than 1,600 people with an average age of 70.
They were followed for an average of 10 years, during which time 377 people developed the condition.
Sweet pastries were the strongest contributor of trans fats, followed by margarine, sweets, croissants, non-dairy creamers, ice cream and rice crackers. Dr Ninomiya added: “The World Health Organisation has called for trans fats to be eliminated worldwide by 2023.”