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 Shoppers beware! Take a good look at the food label the next time you are buying your favourite snack at the supermarket. If the label lists ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ or ‘vegetable shortening’ as one of the ingredients, you may be better off switching to another brand.
This is because ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ and ‘vegetable shortening’ are what is commonly known as trans fat, the worst kind of fat for your heart and blood vessels.
Many processed foods, such as commercially baked goods, desserts, hard margarines (i.e. those that are hard at room temperature), crackers and frozen meals contain trans fat.
What is trans fat?
Trans fat is mainly man-made, through a process of adding hydrogen atoms to unsaturated vegetable oils. This is done to increase shelf life and also to give food a desirable taste and texture. Small amounts of trans fat also occur naturally in some meat such as beef (and dairy products), lamb and venison. However, it is commercially produced trans fat that causes the most health concern.
Trans fat increases our risk of heart diseases
Trans fat increases "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and lowers "good" (HDL) cholesterol, putting us more at risk of heart attacks and strokes. Trans fat also increases the level of triglycerides, another type of fat, in your blood. A high triglyceride level can lead to hardening of the arteries or thickening of the artery walls, which increases the risk of heart diseases.
Although doctors advise limiting trans fat in our diets, there is no guideline for exactly how much trans fat you can consume in a day without negative effects on your body. Both the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association recommend trans fat intake to be as low as possible, with no more than 1 percent of total daily calories coming from trans fat. In general, no more than 30 percent of your total daily calories should come from fat. For people with heart diseases, their fat intake should not be more than 20 percent of total daily calories.
Make it a habit to read food labels
As trans fat does not spoil as easily as non-hydrogenated fat and can be converted into solid fat for easy transportation, it is widely used in the food industry. The good news is that many food companies are now required by law in various countries to list trans fat on food labels, together with other “good” or “bad” fats. “Good” fats generally refer to mono and polyunsaturated fats, while “bad” fats refer to saturated fats.
So learn to read food labels. As far as possible, choose products that do not have ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ or ‘vegetable shortening’ as one of their ingredients. If you can’t find a trans fat-free alternative to a certain product, choose the one with the lowest trans fat content, or which lists ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ or ‘vegetable shortening’ near the end of the ingredient list. That means you are, at least, getting a smaller amount of trans fat. Also, if the package does not have a label, it is safer to assume that it contains trans fat.
From trans fat to saturated fat
In the rush to go trans-fat free, food companies are replacing partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and vegetable shortening with palm oil or fully hydrogenated vegetable oils. However, these alternatives contain saturated fats, which although not as bad for your heart as trans fats, are still considered unhealthy oils as they raise your ‘bad’ cholesterol levels.
The wisest choices are products which are free of, or low in, both trans and saturated fats.
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