Having treated thousands of patients, I believe there must be one significant link between current diet trends and the health challenges facing us today. These dietary habits are also linked to hyperactivity, ADD, ADHD, and ODD. The role of partially hydrogenated fats and the breakdown of proper fat metabolism is a very signifcant factor in behavioral challenges. Partially hydrogenated fats - which have permeated every component of our food chain - stop your body from processing the material needed to send vital messages along never fibers and in the brain.(33)
Eeek. Why do we want to eat foods that mess with messages being sent to the brain? Another good book that I read and would recommend is Jillian Michaels "Master Your Metabolism" dives into a lot of the chemicals that go into our foods and cosmetics that mess up our body because it changes the way the body handles everything. Incorrect messages get sent to the brain, toxins are stored in our fat cells and we are the ones wreaking havoc on our bodies by eating junk. I love watching Jillian go through people's kitchens and throw everything out that has nasty stuff in it. I wish she could convince my husband. The only that is working for me in that department is that I won't eat stuff that has the nasty's. And that makes him mad. Oh well. It's my body right?!
The really gross part is how long some of these ingredients linger in our bodies for.
The half-life of trans fatty acids or partially hydrogenated fats is 51 days. After 51 days, one-half of the negative effects of this man-made fat have been processed, but the body needs an additional 51 days to complete the process. After these 51 days, there is still a 25% residual.(37)
He goes into detail about the importance of fat in our diets as well. I'm going to address this issue in another post but I agree with his notion that we are seeing a greater prevalence in ADHD in recent years because of the food we eat (and how we are told to eat).
Action Item
Become proficient at reading ingredient labels. Even if a bag of chips claims "No trans fats," you may notice partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list. Food manufacturers can get away from this simply because the FDA has given a limit of x amount of grams of PHO per serving. If there is less than x per serving, the food label can claim that there are no trans fats. Sneaky eh?
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