Hydrogenated fats

WHAT ARE THEY?

Hydrogenated fats and margarine are industrial synthesis compounds, invented at the beginning of the century, widely used by the food industry. Trans fats are used for the following reasons (purely economic): They cost less than quality fats, like butter they go off much more slowly and therefore allow for the products to last longer and they have a higher melting point than the starting vegetable fats, so they can effectively replace butter.

WHY THEY ARE HEALTHIER

Hydrogenated fats and margarine contain trans fats, which have the following effects on the body:
- They lower HDL cholesterol and raise LDL cholesterol
- They increase cardiovascular risk more than saturated fat
- They lower the biological value of breast milk
- They cause the lower weight of children at birth
- They increase insulin levels in response to a glycemic load
- They interfere with the immune response by decreasing the efficiency of B cell response and by increasing the proliferation of T cells
- They decrease the level of testosterone
- They inhibit some basic anzymatic reactions
- They change the permeability and fluidity of cell membranes
- They change the constitution and number of adipocytes (fat deposit cells)
- They interfere with the metabolism of omega-3 essential fatty acids
- They increase the production of free radicals

Detailed information in this article dby Roberto Albanesi, of which we report a significant passage. "Usually when a substance is tolerated by the body, the acceptable daily doses are set (for example, for the aspartame sweetener it is 50 mg/kg, for vine a couple of glasses a day, etc.) So, the American Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine and Research Council has proposed for trans fats a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) equal to ZERO."

WHERE THEY ARE FOUND

Trans fats are unfortunately found in many industrial and home-made products. However, it is not difficult to eliminate them completely from your diet. Trans fats are found in all foods that include amongst their ingredients: hydrogenated vegetable oils, partially hydrogenated oils, hydrogenated vegetable fats, partially hydrogenated vegetable fats, margarine.
The following widely used products must be kept under control.

PACKAGED OVEN PRODUCTS

Biscuits, brioches, focaccia, tarts, cakes, crisps, etc. They all show the ingredients, so it is easy to identify the presence of trans fats.

HOMEMADE OVEN PRODUCTS

Keep under control especially pastry products, which in 90% of cases make use of trans fats. Shops are obliged to indicate the ingredients of the products they sell. If you cannot find them, ask the shop owner and if you find margarine or hydrogenated fats amongst the ingredients, change pastry shop. Unfortunately, for those who love cappuccino and brioches, you will soon notice that it will be very difficult to find products made with butter and not margarine...

HOMEMADE ICE-CREAM

The situation concerning ice-creams is not as bad as pastries, but the risk is still high. Nowadays, almost all ice-cream parlours use industrial preparations which often contain trans fats, which have the advantage of making the ice-cream melt more slowly. Do the same as with pastry shops: check if the ingredients include trans fats and make a personal list of quality ice-cream parlours that do not use trans fats. In this case, luckily, the quality of the ice-cream often corresponds to the absence of trans fats.

AT THE RESTAURANT

Obviously, apart from the products just described, which are also served in restaurants, it is necessary to avoid any preparations that probably make use of margarine. pepper fillet, in many restaurants, is cooked in margarine. Cakes, if they are not home-made, are bought from industrial or artisanal pastry shops, 90% of which use margarine. To avoid being seen in strange way (even though there is no reason for it), you could ask if there is margarine in the various dishes by pretending to be allergic to it.