How trans fats and biodiesel fuel are related.

As the public has become more aware of the health implications of trans fat, most food manufacturers have been replacing the trans fats in processed foods with palm oil.  Trans fat are also know as hydrogenated fats.  The Sunday 12/3/2006 Seattle paper’s business section had an interesting article on a company that is ramping up to process biodiesel to decrease our reliance on petroleum based fuel.  It sounds all well and good.  For a bit of background, biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils, notably, soy and palm oil.  This particular company had a choice getting soybean oil via rail from the Midwest or from Malaysia transport by large tanker ships.  The plan is to set up a port in Grey’s Harbor to receive this palm oil.  It turn out it’s 30 percent cheaper to ship palm oil from Malaysia than to truck soybean oil from the Midwest.   Somehow this doesn’t seem right for fuel efficiency.  Why is it cheaper to ship something all the way from Malaysia than from the Midwest?  But that’s not the worst of it.  This article caught my attention because the June 2005 Nutrition Action Newsletter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest wrote an interesting article called “Cruel Oil.”  It turns out the upsurge of palm oil usage due to its replacement of trans fats in foods has started a vast deforestation of Malaysia and Indonesia, thus decreasing the habitat for various endangered species such as the Sumatran tigers and rhinoceros, and orangutans.   Palm oil plantations are replacing rainforests.  Now, what happens when we start refining large amounts biodiesel from palm oil?  The reality is that palm oil in food can also boost cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease.  When a product says “no trans fat” take a closer look at the label and see if it has been replaced with palm oil, a saturated fat.  My concern is that the quick reaction to replace one thing, be it trans fats for palm oil, or biodiesel for petroleum fuel is creating a chain of negative events.  We need to look farther down the road at solutions that will sustain our eco-system and our health.