The US food industry is currently in a tail spin on account of new labeling regulations enforced by the Food and Drug Administration. Food processors were required effective last January to disclose the trans fatty acid (or TFA) content in their products.
This comes in the heels of growing evidence in the scientific literature linking TFAs with increased risks of coronary disease and diabetes II. TFAs raise serum levels of bad LDL-cholesterol, reduce good HDL-cholesterol, promote inflammation and influence risk factors for cardio-vascular disease. In fact, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), 34.2% of Americans (70.1 million) suffered some form of cardiovascular disease in 2002. It is also estimated that over a quarter of a million coronary heart disease events could be avoided by replacing trans-fats in foods.
TFAs are formed when vegetable oils are partially hydrogenated. Hydrogenation converts the oil into semi-solid state which contains properties such as extended shelf life and flavor stability, and thus ideal for food processing. Cookies, potato chips, beverages, practically all food items that use vegetable oils in it are affected. Margarines and shortening, the main derivative products of hydrogenated oil, are laced with TFAs.
So be careful when buying margarine. It used to be that butter was demonized on account of its higher saturated fats, and margarine the healthier alternative. Not anymore. Margarine has more TFAs, which are even deadlier than saturated fats. In the US and Europe (Denmark, in particular), TFA-free margarine is already available. Here in the Philippines, we have no choice. So I guess for cooking and baking needs, we might as well trade up to butter.
For cooking oil, palm oil is the best alternative since it does not produce TFAs even when further processed, or partially hydrogenated, despite the fact that it contains higher saturated fats compared to soy oil or canola/rapeseed oil. (Coconut oil has the highest saturated fat content among vegetable oils available). This of course is good news for Malaysia and Indonesia, the main producers of palm oil. Recent developments in TFAs boosted demand for palm oil and it is now the most widely traded edible oil in the world.
Denmark has introduced legislation in 2004 requiring all processed food items to limit trans-fat content to no more than 2%, thus eliminating hydrogenated oils in the process.
But since this issue only came to fore in 2003 when Steven Joseph of BanTransFat.com sued Kraft for the TFA content in its Oreos cookies, as well as McDonalds, and the FDA subsequently enforcing labeling rules, the whole food processing chain, from the oil seed growers, to processors, to manufacturers, to the end consumers, are scrambling to adjust to these developments. This is at least the case in the US and Europe.
This has caused a lot of problems, however. To shield themselves from possible consumer back lash, not to mention litigation risks, food manufacturers are scrambling to find new oil seed varieties and oil blends that do not produce TFAs when hydrogenated, or which do not require hydrogenation at all.
The technology that makes this all possible takes advantage of genetic and enzyme modification techniques.
But since consumer sentiment against genetic modification remains high in Europe, EU consumers are faced with a dilemma: how to reconcile their need to protect themselves against TFAs and their aversion to anything genetically-modified at the same time.
I hope our Bureau of Food and Drugs do something about this TFAs as well. Filipinos’ eating habits are in some sense, similar to Americans: unhealthy. We eat with lots of fats, salt and sugar in our diet.
This comes in the heels of growing evidence in the scientific literature linking TFAs with increased risks of coronary disease and diabetes II. TFAs raise serum levels of bad LDL-cholesterol, reduce good HDL-cholesterol, promote inflammation and influence risk factors for cardio-vascular disease. In fact, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), 34.2% of Americans (70.1 million) suffered some form of cardiovascular disease in 2002. It is also estimated that over a quarter of a million coronary heart disease events could be avoided by replacing trans-fats in foods.
TFAs are formed when vegetable oils are partially hydrogenated. Hydrogenation converts the oil into semi-solid state which contains properties such as extended shelf life and flavor stability, and thus ideal for food processing. Cookies, potato chips, beverages, practically all food items that use vegetable oils in it are affected. Margarines and shortening, the main derivative products of hydrogenated oil, are laced with TFAs.
So be careful when buying margarine. It used to be that butter was demonized on account of its higher saturated fats, and margarine the healthier alternative. Not anymore. Margarine has more TFAs, which are even deadlier than saturated fats. In the US and Europe (Denmark, in particular), TFA-free margarine is already available. Here in the Philippines, we have no choice. So I guess for cooking and baking needs, we might as well trade up to butter.
For cooking oil, palm oil is the best alternative since it does not produce TFAs even when further processed, or partially hydrogenated, despite the fact that it contains higher saturated fats compared to soy oil or canola/rapeseed oil. (Coconut oil has the highest saturated fat content among vegetable oils available). This of course is good news for Malaysia and Indonesia, the main producers of palm oil. Recent developments in TFAs boosted demand for palm oil and it is now the most widely traded edible oil in the world.
Denmark has introduced legislation in 2004 requiring all processed food items to limit trans-fat content to no more than 2%, thus eliminating hydrogenated oils in the process.
But since this issue only came to fore in 2003 when Steven Joseph of BanTransFat.com sued Kraft for the TFA content in its Oreos cookies, as well as McDonalds, and the FDA subsequently enforcing labeling rules, the whole food processing chain, from the oil seed growers, to processors, to manufacturers, to the end consumers, are scrambling to adjust to these developments. This is at least the case in the US and Europe.
This has caused a lot of problems, however. To shield themselves from possible consumer back lash, not to mention litigation risks, food manufacturers are scrambling to find new oil seed varieties and oil blends that do not produce TFAs when hydrogenated, or which do not require hydrogenation at all.
The technology that makes this all possible takes advantage of genetic and enzyme modification techniques.
But since consumer sentiment against genetic modification remains high in Europe, EU consumers are faced with a dilemma: how to reconcile their need to protect themselves against TFAs and their aversion to anything genetically-modified at the same time.
I hope our Bureau of Food and Drugs do something about this TFAs as well. Filipinos’ eating habits are in some sense, similar to Americans: unhealthy. We eat with lots of fats, salt and sugar in our diet.
No comments:
Post a Comment