HERBSPHERE
|
|
|
NAVIGATE |
‘Diet of the Future – No more Hydrogenated fats, Trans fatty acids and Additives Pur...leese’ The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has given £2.7m funding for research of a four-year study by experts to The Medical Research Council (MRC) with a view to inform public health policy re: What diet is best to reduce the risk of Heart Disease and Type II Diabetes. This is because, the results of ‘bad’ diets are easily seen, but little is known about foods that may help to reduce the risk. About a quarter of the adult population in the UK have one or more of the risk factors for developing Metabolic Syndrome, one aspect of which is the inability to metabolize sugar in the normal way, which may lead to obesity, high blood pressure and abnormal blood fat levels. ‘At risk’ are people who eat high fat diets and take insufficient exercise, the stereo-typed ‘Couch Potato’ - Don’t just think ‘adults’, think ‘children, the adults of the future. There will be two types of Test Diets to be compared with the normal British diet: - 1. A low fat, high carbohydrate diet. 2. A moderate fat diet where the saturated fats are replaced by monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). The scientists are to recruit 650 volunteers from their research centre in Cambridge, plus the University of Surrey, the University of Reading, London’s King’s College and Imperial College London.1 COMMENT: Aha! The MRC suggest that “the amount and quality of fat and carbohydrate in the diet might modify some of the features of the Metabolic Syndrome”. So, can we hope for the Food Industry to reduce the use of hydrogenated fats, trans-fatty acids (TFAs) and additives one wonders. After all there’s no use in creating a healthy diet if it is one we cannot ‘buy’ or the findings of the research cannot be practically applied. The buck keeps stopping on the threshold of the Food Industry. For example, recent research in Romania of 100 items from a supermarket containing food additives found the following: - “The food groups with the most additives were: meat products (8 types), soft drinks (7), hydrogenated fats and sugar products (6). The most frequent used food additives were: for meat products--support substances (63%); soft drinks--acid, flavor (100%) and preserve (88%) substances; hydrogenated fats--emulsion, flavor, color substances (100%) and for sugar products--emulsion (85%) and flavor substances (78%).”
The article concludes: ‘… the food additives with possible noxious effects on health are frequently incorporated in food products.” Also, “In the 1990s, there was public health concern about epidemiological studies suggesting that TFA increase the risk of coronary heart disease. High intakes of TFA may have an influence on total cholesterol and other blood parameters; but on the other hand there have been a lot of studies which have not been able to confirm these results. TFAs are formed in varying amounts during the industrial hydrogenation of vegetable oils … … Regular margarines contain varying contents of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, and therefore of TFA. The TFA situation is not new, the healthy-minded Danes got serious about TFA’s back in 1994. A report from the Danish Nutrition Council then cited “the contribution of a high intake of TFA’s adds to the risk of coronary heart disease. Any deleterious effect of Trans fatty acids on the human foetus and newborn infants has not been negated. Their possible effect on cancer is still unsettled. …” The Danes then got seriously serious and The Danish Nutrition Council recommended “that the addition of industrially produced Trans fatty acids to food stuffs ceases before 2005 and until then that declaration of the content in foodstuffs becomes mandatory.” We may hope for the best, fearing the worst, so keep checking the packaging of the foodstuffs you buy. If you can’t afford organic bikkies and the like opt for those that contain the least possible potentially harmful ingredients. References: 1 BBC News ‘on-line’ 14.5.2004 ‘Study seeks ultimate healthy diet’. 2 [In process citation] Petrescu C, et al, Facultatea de Medicina Disciplena de Igeina, Uv. de Medicina si Farmacie Victor Babes Timisoara, Romania. Rev. Med. Chir. Soc. Med. Nat. Iasi 2003 Oct-Dec; 107(4):856-62. 3 Trans fatty acids (TFA): analysis, occurrence,intake and clinical relevance.’ Steinhart H, et al, Institute of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, Dept.of Food Chemistry, Uv. of Hamburg, Germany. Eur J Med Res. 2003 Aug 20;8(8):358-62. 4 [The importance of trans-fatty acids for health. Update 2001] Article in Danish, Stender S, Dyerberg J., Kinisk biokemisk afdeling, Amtssygehuset I Gentofte. Ugeskr Laeger. 2001 Apr 23;163(17):2349-53.
|
LINKS
|
|
PLEASE NOTE: Disclaimers and Copyrights can and must be read by clicking here.
|
