R.C. Anderson
The trouble with being fat
August 2nd 2007 14:00
Okay, so fats in food don’t have a very good reputation.
There are good fats and bad fats, tasty fats and yukky fats, gluggy fats and runny fats and even “good for your cholesterol” fats. What more could you ask for?
How about Trans Fats?
We all know that saturated fat is bad for us (and if you don’t know that after all the bad press saturated fats have had over the last few years then, tell me, which planet have you been on) but we’ve always been told that unsaturated fat isn’t as bad. It can even be beneficial, lowering bad cholesterol and raising good cholesterol (yes, David, there is such a thing). But that isn’t always the case.
This evening’s episode of Today Tonight looked at trans fats, a derivative of vegetable oils, among other things, and a product which is potentially considerably dangerous to our health.
Trans fats are made from liquid vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated, resulting in a solid. When used in cooking, trans fats give consumers the image they desire (no … I don’t mean we all end up looking like Britney Spears … oh, sorry, I said “the image we desire”, didn’t I? I mean the image we desire from our food), food looks better; having more texture, hardness and a longer shelf life.
Trans fats also give consumers the image they desire least … heart disease.
Trans fats are found naturally in a number of products, such as meats and dairy products, but are found predominantly on our supermarket shelves in processed foods.
Dr Nicholas Cox, a Melbourne Cardiologist, confirms that trans fats can be extremely damaging to cholesterol levels, "they push up the bad cholesterol and push down your good cholesterol," he said.
"They really create a cholesterol profile that is most likely to lead to coronary disease and heart attacks."
"I think these companies that are producing foods that contain trans fats really have an obligation to look after their customers," he said.
"Trans fats are bad, they offer no nutritional value and the companies that produce these food really owe it to their customers to take it out of the foods they're producing."
Unfortunately, manufacturers are under no obligation to disclose the trans fatty acid content of the food they produce.
However …
Trans fats are linked to the deaths of up to 25 per cent of the Australian population;
Heart disease is a major concern of people consuming too many trans fats … heart disease claims a life every eight minutes in Australia;
Research suggests a diet of just 2 per cent trans fats can increase the risk of having a heart attack by 23 per cent.
Trans fats also are prevalent in muffins, cream-filled sweet biscuits, cheese spreads, quiche, sausage rolls, lasagne, milk-powder, potato crisps, fries from fast food outlets, cheesecake and pastries. As well as butter and dairy spreads, pre-packed cheese and spinach rolls, camembert and brie cheese, butter puff pastry, popcorn and ice cream.
Other countries around the world have mandated labelling of trans fats, according to Food Sociologist, Dr Gygory Scrinis, from RMIT's Globalism Institute.
"I think it is outrageous that Food Standards Australia has decided earlier this year not to label trans fats on foods and nor to regulate the amount of trans fats in foods," he said.
"The food industry may simply replace trans fats with other highly processed and chemically engineered ingredients."
It makes you wonder what’s safe and what’s not, doesn’t it.
For anyone who’s interested, Today Tonight have published a document they discovered under the freedom of information act, listing the foods highest in trans fatty acids. It can be found on their website … click here if you don’t believe me.
Thanks to Today tonight for the info.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
There are good fats and bad fats, tasty fats and yukky fats, gluggy fats and runny fats and even “good for your cholesterol” fats. What more could you ask for?
How about Trans Fats?
We all know that saturated fat is bad for us (and if you don’t know that after all the bad press saturated fats have had over the last few years then, tell me, which planet have you been on) but we’ve always been told that unsaturated fat isn’t as bad. It can even be beneficial, lowering bad cholesterol and raising good cholesterol (yes, David, there is such a thing). But that isn’t always the case.
This evening’s episode of Today Tonight looked at trans fats, a derivative of vegetable oils, among other things, and a product which is potentially considerably dangerous to our health.
Trans fats are made from liquid vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated, resulting in a solid. When used in cooking, trans fats give consumers the image they desire (no … I don’t mean we all end up looking like Britney Spears … oh, sorry, I said “the image we desire”, didn’t I? I mean the image we desire from our food), food looks better; having more texture, hardness and a longer shelf life.
Trans fats also give consumers the image they desire least … heart disease.
Trans fats are found naturally in a number of products, such as meats and dairy products, but are found predominantly on our supermarket shelves in processed foods.
Dr Nicholas Cox, a Melbourne Cardiologist, confirms that trans fats can be extremely damaging to cholesterol levels, "they push up the bad cholesterol and push down your good cholesterol," he said.
"They really create a cholesterol profile that is most likely to lead to coronary disease and heart attacks."
"I think these companies that are producing foods that contain trans fats really have an obligation to look after their customers," he said.
"Trans fats are bad, they offer no nutritional value and the companies that produce these food really owe it to their customers to take it out of the foods they're producing."
Unfortunately, manufacturers are under no obligation to disclose the trans fatty acid content of the food they produce.
However …
Trans fats are linked to the deaths of up to 25 per cent of the Australian population;
Heart disease is a major concern of people consuming too many trans fats … heart disease claims a life every eight minutes in Australia;
Research suggests a diet of just 2 per cent trans fats can increase the risk of having a heart attack by 23 per cent.
Trans fats also are prevalent in muffins, cream-filled sweet biscuits, cheese spreads, quiche, sausage rolls, lasagne, milk-powder, potato crisps, fries from fast food outlets, cheesecake and pastries. As well as butter and dairy spreads, pre-packed cheese and spinach rolls, camembert and brie cheese, butter puff pastry, popcorn and ice cream.
Other countries around the world have mandated labelling of trans fats, according to Food Sociologist, Dr Gygory Scrinis, from RMIT's Globalism Institute.
"I think it is outrageous that Food Standards Australia has decided earlier this year not to label trans fats on foods and nor to regulate the amount of trans fats in foods," he said.
"The food industry may simply replace trans fats with other highly processed and chemically engineered ingredients."
It makes you wonder what’s safe and what’s not, doesn’t it.
Delete Trans Fats from your life! They are not your friends.
For anyone who’s interested, Today Tonight have published a document they discovered under the freedom of information act, listing the foods highest in trans fatty acids. It can be found on their website … click here if you don’t believe me.
Thanks to Today tonight for the info.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
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Comment by Candice
Scary stuff Andrea. And even more that I eat many of those foods on the list (and here I was thinking I was being 'healthier' by having cheese spreads instead of butter on my toast.
Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
It is worrying and the most worrying thing is that most of them are hidden in foods that many people eat every day. I must admit that I was disappointed to find that Camenbert and Brie cheeses are on the list ... I love those.
Cheese spread is yummy on toast.
A.xx