Would You Like Fries With That? 
     The Fuss About Fats in Our Diet 

     Module written by Sandra Laursen and Heather Mernitz

    Session 1: Is it Unhealthy to Eat Fat?
    Analyzing Information about Diet and Health

        Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 (http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/ or pdf) published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Summary or pdf).
        Body Mass Index Table

      Exploration 1A: What are the Health Consequences of Our Food Choices?
      Assessing Media Claims

        American Heart Association, How to Evaluate Science News Stories, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4685
        Scientific Reporting and Risk Communication, International Food Information Council (IFIC), November 2006, (http://www.ific.org/newsroom/reporting/index.cfm or pdf)

      • Group A read IFIC Review: How to Understand and Interpret Food and Health-Related Scientific Studies, International Food Information Council, September 2001, (http://www.ific.org/publications/reviews/scientificir.cfm or pdf) up to "Results."
      • Group B read IFIC Review: How to Understand and Interpret Food and Health-Related Scientific Studies, International Food Information Council, September 2001, (http://www.ific.org/publications/reviews/scientificir.cfm or pdf) from "Results" to "Key Definitions."
      • Group C read Food for Thought VI: Reporting of Diet, Nutrition and Food Safety, International Food Information Council (IFIC), December 2005, (http://www.ific.org/research/fftres.cfm or pdf)
      • Group D read Improving Public Understanding: Guidelines For Communicating Emerging Science on Nutrition, Food Safety, and Health, Journal of National Cancer Institute, February 4, 1998, (http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/guidelinesbroch.cfm or pdf)

      Exploration 1B: How Does Fat in Our Diet Compare with Other Health Risks?
      Assessing Risk

      • Absolute and Relative Risk, Cancer Research UK (http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerandresearch/risk/communicatingrisk/absoluteandrelativerisk/)
      • Absolute vs Relative Differences, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (http://www.acponline.org/journals/ecp/janfeb00/primer.htm)
      • "Worth the Risk - Putting Activities in Perspective", Food Insight , Nov/Dec 1999 (http://ific.org/foodinsight/1999/nd/worthriskfi699.cfm)
      • "Perception of Risk", Science, 236, 281 (17 April 1987) Survey Results

      Exploration 1C: Should We Eat Olestra Instead of Fat?
      Preparing for the Culminating Project

      • FDA Approves Fat Substitute Olestra, January 1996 (http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/NEW00524.html)
      • The Olestra web site maintained by Procter and Gamble: http://www.olean.com.
      • The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) web site: http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/. See their anti-olestra commercial http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/OLES-M.MOV (requires Quicktime)

      Making the Link: Is it Unhealthy to Eat Fat?

    Session 2: What Makes Fats Different From Other Nutrients?
    Chemical Structure and Properties of Nutrients

      Exploration 2A: How do Chemists Represent the Structures of Nutrients?
      Chemical Notation: jmol

      Exploration 2B: What Makes the Macronutrients Structurally Distinct?
      Functional Groups

      Exploration 2C: What Properties Distinguish the Different Macronutrients?
      Extraction of Fat From Food

        In 1993 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration established new food labeling regulations, requiring a standard format and content for the Nutrition Facts Label and establishing standard definitions of terms such as lite, healthy, and fat-free. The label provides information about calories, macronutrients, and substances related to particular nutrition concerns (salt, cholesterol, certain vitamins). This food label is used as a source of comparative data for your experimental results in the fat extraction lab. For information on reading the food label see FDA Backgrounder: The Food Label, May 1999 (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdnewlab.html). Examples of revised labels listing trans fat are at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/labtr.html.

      Making the Link: What Makes Fats Different From Other Nutrients?

    Session 3: Why is Fat a Necessary Nutrient?
    Molecular Polarity and Solubility

      Exploration 3A: Why Don't Oil and Water Mix?
      Making Predictions and Testing Solubility

        Vitamin Spectra

      Exploration 3B: How Can We Make Oil and Water Mix?
      Surfactants, Micelles, and Membranes

      Making the Link: Why is Fat a Necessary Nutrient?

    Session 4: How is Fat a Concentrated Energy Source?
    Thermochemistry

      Exploration 4A: How Do We Get Energy From What We Eat?
      Combustion Reactions in Our Bodies

        One excellent source of detailed data on the energy content of a wide variety of foods is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 20, 2007 (http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964). Click on the Search the Database link or click here. Enter keyword (e.g. peanut or corn puff) and press return. Then click on the report button (a 100 g sample size is convenient.)

        The National Institute of Standards and Technology maintains an excellent database of chemical data, including thermochemical data for many compounds and reactions. It contains the most accurate values of and available, and it is a good place to look up data for any compounds for which you cannot locate data in your text or other print sources. Follow the screen instructions at http://webbook.nist.gov to search for the desired data.

      Exploration 4B: How Do Chemical Bonds Affect Food Energies?
      Bond Energies

        Energetics of bond breaking and bond making

      Making the Link: How is Fat a Concentrated Energy Source?

    Session 5: What Kind of Fat Should We Eat?
    Macroscopic Consequences of Microscopic Structure

      Exploration 5A: What is the Difference Between Fats and Oils?
      Bromine Titration Experiment

        To analyze your laboratory results for this Exploration, you will need to find data on the fatty acid composition of the fats and oils studied in the lab. One excellent source of detailed data on the composition of a wide variety of foods is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Nutrient Database (http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/)

        Instructions on Searching the USDA Database for Data about Fat and Oil Composition

      Exploration 5B: How Can We Explain the Differences Between Fats and Oils?
      Chemical Notation: jmol

      Exploration 5C: Should We Eat Fats or Oils? Radicals, Rancidity, and Oxidation

        Dietary sources for individual fatty acids (http://www.nutritiondata.com/fatty-acids.html)

      Exploration 5D: Should We Eat Butter or Margarine?
      Hydrogenation and Isomerism

      • Questions and Answers about Trans Fats, International Food Information Council (IFIC), August 2003, (http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/transqa.cfm)
      • Revealing Trans Fats, U. S. Food and Drug Administration, September 2005, (http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2003/503_fats.html)
      • Trans fat, Center for Science in the Public Interest, http://www.cspinet.org/transfat/
      • About Trans Fat, Campaign to Ban Partially Hydrogenated Oils, (http://www.bantransfats.com/abouttransfat.html)
      • Interview with Malcom Gladwell, National Public Radio All Things Considered, March 3, 2001 The Trouble with Fries

      Making the Link: What Kind of Fat Should We Eat?

    Session 6: Should We Eat Fake Fat?
    Science and Personal Choices

      Exploration 6A: How is Fat Replaced in Food?
      Chemistry of Fat Substitutes

      • International Food Information Council (IFIC) Everything You Need to Know About... The Functions of Fats in Foods, May 2007 (http://ific.org/publications/brochures/fatsbroch.cfm or pdf)
      • American Dietetic Association position paper, Fat replacers, February 2005 (http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_adap0498_ENU_HTML.htm)
      • International Food Information Council (IFIC) Questions and Answers about Fat Replacers, April 2000 (http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/fatreplqa.cfm)

      Exploration 6B: Should We Eat Olestra?
      Culminating Project

        Below are some links to get you started on your Olestra research.
      • Procter and Gamble, the company that stands to profit from sales of Olestra: http://www.olean.com
      • Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer-interest group that lobbies for revoking Olestra: http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/
      • The Nutrition Sourceat the Harvard School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/
      • Article by Ellin Doyle in the Journal of Chemical Education: http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/Journal/Issues/1997/Apr/abs370.html
      • National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, Weight Loss: Fact or Fiction, http://naafa.org/documents/brochures/weightloss.html
      • National Public Radio Morning Edition, October 11, 2000. There's Something About Olestra, http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20001011.me.12.ram (requires RealPlayer)
      • Cincinnati Enquirer, Friday, June 30, 2000. Canada ban adds to woes, http://enquirer.com/editions/2000/06/23/fin_canadian_ban_adds_to.html
      • Los Angeles Times, Sunday, February 4, 2001. FDA Fails to Give Olestra Fair Weight, by Henry Miller
      • Interview with Malcom Gladwell, National Public Radio All Things Considered, March 3, 2001 The Trouble with Fries
      • News Release: Olean, Light, and Trans Fats, June 4, 2004, Frito Lay

    Molecular models by Sandra Laursen and Marco Molinaro based on data from the Cambridge Crystallographic Database.

    Copyright © 2004 by the trustees of Beloit College and the Regents of the University of California. This Module has been developed under the direction of the ChemLinks Coalition, headed by Beloit College, and the ModularChem Consortium, headed by the University of California at Berkeley. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation grants No. DUE-9455918 and DUE-9455924. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, Beloit College, or the Regents of the University of California.

    Published through exclusive license with W. W. Norton.
    Would You Like Fries With That? The Fuss about Fats in Our Diet ISBN 0-393-92432-7

    This page maintained by George Lisensky, Beloit College. Last modified September 29, 2007.

    Fuss about Fats | ChemConnections