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Journalism of Courage
If you thought using cholesterol free butter or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil was a healthy choice, think again! These contain unsaturated fatty acids known as trans fatty acids. Trans fats, a by-product of processing fat are formed during the process of hydrogenation8212; adding hydrogen to liquid oils, making them more solid. The process is undertaken when cheap vegetable oils liquids are made into solid fat to resemble animal fat. Examples of hydrogenated fats include vanaspati, dalda, margarines, shortenings and butter substitutes. Hydrogenation improves the shelf life and palatability of oils. TFAs are also formed when the same oil is used for frying repeatedly.
Trans fatty acids can seriously damage our health. They put us at a greater risk of many chronic degenerative diseases like coronary artery disease heart disease by raising the bad-cholesterol LDL, lowering the 8220;good8221; cholesterol HDL, and increasing the abnormal clotting of blood, thus have been tagged Cholesterol raising fatty acids. Studies have also reported a positive association of trans fats with diabetes and cancers.
However, there is zero tolerance to these fats and there is no safe level. Legislation for specifying TFA content on food labels has been made mandatory from Jan 2006 in US, this has not happened in India.
An effort yet has to be made by the food manufacturers and the food industry in India to decrease the trans fat content of food products by modifying the types of fats used in their manufacturing. The West has come out with margarines without TFAs but these are not available in India yet.
