Biscuits and light snacks are popular kids and adults mostly turned out to contain trans fats.
NOT long ago the National Agency of the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) and the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) questioned again about trans fats. Various studies suggest a link between consumption of trans fats with increased blood cholesterol.
Trans fats are believed to be a major cause of obesity and coronary heart disease, which is now being suffered by the younger age groups, between 30-40 years. Because of the negative effect that is detrimental to the health of the US-FDA requires manufacturers of food in there labeled trans fat in food products.
Actually, what is trans fat? The following questions and answers with Prof.. Dr. Ir. Ali Khomsan, from the Department of Community Nutrition, Bogor Agricultural University and Dr. Nuri Andarwulan of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Seafast (Southeast Asian Food and Agricultural Science and Technology) Center IPB:
What is trans fat, is the same as regular fat?
Each product must have a fat content of food. In addition to the fat of the raw material itself (eg, processed meat) as well as from other ingredients, such as oil or semisolid fat (margarine) used for frying. Fat contained the oil / margarine is a triglyceride composed of saturated fat (saturated fat) and unsaturated. Trans fats are more often found in margarine.
Trans fats are oils that are processed through a process of partial hydrogenation (ie, by adding hydrogen into it). Processing is done to improve the oxidative stability so as not susceptible to oxidation. Actually the process of partial hydrogenation carried food industry to make margarine. Naturally, trans fats are also formed in the rumen / stomach large livestock such as cattle. Thus, products such as butter or milk contains trans fat amounts of 2-5%.
What all oils contain trans fats?
Oils derived from subtropical countries such as soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower seed oil, and olive oil has less saturated fat content. While the content of unsaturated fat and high in cis configuration. That is, parallel to its chemical composition so it is not harmful to health. Well, in the process of hydrogenation of oil went through the double bond isomerization of cis to trans configuration. This makes the chemical composition of the adjacent and parallel to a health hazard.
One of the oils that contain trans fats are some margarine products (made from soybean oil). While margarine made in Indonesia made from palm oil is said not through the process of partial hydrogenation, but the result of blending the emulsion (mixture) of oil in order to obtain the desired consistency and does not create trans fats.
Are trans fats circulating in the market? In Indonesia, one can find trans fats on the market in the form of white butter or commonly called shortening. This type of product texture varies from very soft to very hard. White butter normally used by the food industry, especially in the manufacture of biscuits. Variations in ingridientnya include shortening, coco butter and other alternatives.
The specialty is trans fat can make food tasty textured or easily melted in the mouth, feels krispi or crunchy, and taste and smell savory and delicious. Children generally love this snack.
What about cooking oil that we usually encounter in the market?
Cooking oil that is clear yellow which usually circulate in the market (and commonly used for frying) are generally derived from palm oil (palm oil) and its processing is through the hydrogenation process. So mothers do not have to worry about the cooking oil because it contains no trans fats. But note the oils from soy, corn and sunflower for frying (frying oil instead of salad oil) because generally the process of processing through partial hydrogenation that contain trans fats. Instead oils designated as salad oils are usually safe from trans fats.
How do consumers know that a product contains trans fat?
Consumers never know whether a packaged food contains trans fat or not. Because the characteristics of trans fat on the ingredients of food consumed can not be detected with the senses. We can only recognize by name, a pseudonym in the composition of ingredients like partially hydrogenated vegetables oils (hydrogenated vegetable oil), shortening, and hydrogenated fats.
As long as there are no regulations on the obligation to include trans fat composition then we would not know it. Therefore there should be rigor of the need for government regulation of nutritional labels that indicate the presence or absence of trans fat content in food packaging products
Why are trans fats harmful?
Trans fats are considered more harmful than saturated fat because it is suspected significant role in raising blood cholesterol progressively. Studies in the 1980s showed that many Scandinavians are high in saturated fat consume proved to have coronary heart disease incidence is lower than the American people that despite eating less saturated fat, but the level of trans fat consumption was high.
Data from the Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils (Iseo) states that high consumption of trans fat increases the LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good), but do not overdo it home consumption does not cause negative health effects. Iseo considers concerns about trans fats felt like too much, let alone the fact that trans fat consumption contributes only 2-4% of total fat consumption. Compare this with the contribution of saturated fat which reaches 12-14%.
But keep in mind the daily consumption of trans fats can raise 1-3% for adult cardiac arrest. Especially for the children. So, need to be taken into account and see how much trans fat is listed ingredients in a food product.
Another fact, trans fats interfere with essential fatty acids linoleic acid conversion into arachidonic in the synthesis of body fat. Overall, this will disrupt the system of enzymatic reactions in the metabolism of fat. Enzymatic disruption of the system will also affect the developing nervous system. Therefore, the nerve cells in desperate need of this type of essential fatty acids. Therefore, the trans fat content in food products should be considered as part of the information should be conveyed to the consumer through the packaging label.
So what to do?
Given the trans fat and saturated fat is often associated with the emergence of the disease of high cholesterol, then the industry in the U.S. have gradually been reducing the trans fat content, especially in processed food products. Food products stick / spreadable (smear) such as margarine which in 1989 contained 26.9% trans fat (on average), has dropped its content to 16.9% in 1999.
Reduce trans fat content in food products can be done using the reformulation of hydrogenation technology. If previously used by multiple basestock system with three times the hydrogenation, the industry now uses only a single hydrogenation. Classification of food containing trans fats is as follows: low trans fats if the ingredients are less or equal to 5%, and zero-trans if its content is very small (1-2%).
Of margarine products are marketed in 11 countries in Europe and the U.S. is known that the reduced trans fat content is usually accompanied with the increase in saturated fat. Perhaps this is the trade-offs that must be accepted by consumers, we have not been able to obtain a product of low trans fat margarine and low in saturated fat as well.
In Indonesia alone, now some industries have started to avoid the partial hydrogenation process that can create trans fats. One way, the processing of palm cooking oil (palm oil) or coconut oil (coconut oil) is done by fractionated (resolved or decreased) with temperature and filtering, so that the resulting products are free of trans fats.
Here are the types of foods that contain trans fats:
Fast food and frozen food:
* French Fries, frozen
* Breaded fish burger
* Breaded chicken nuggets
* Enchilada
* Burrito
* Pizza
Snack packaging
* Tortilla (corn) chips
* Popcorn, microwave
* Granola bars
* Breakfast bars
Bakery products
* Pie
* Danish or sweet roll
* Doughnuts
* Cookies
* Cake
* Brownies
* Muffin
Margarine
* Vegetable shortening
* Hard (sticks)
* Soft (tub)
Other
* Pancakes
* Crackers
* Tortillas
* Chocolate bar
* Peanut butter
From Seafast Center IPB (Source: Mozaffarian et al New Eng. J. Med. 354:1601 (2006)
