According to a news survey, in the mainland, trans fatty acids have the greatest impact on children aged 3-12 years old, so what exactly are trans fatty acids? What are the effects on the child, and which foods have more content?
Trans fatty acids are a class of unsaturated fatty acids that are very detrimental to health. It is divided into two types: naturally occurring and artificially manufactured. Natural trans fatty acids are found in some meats, breast milk, and formula, which are harmless to the human body.
What we need to pay attention to is the artificially manufactured trans fatty acids, which are included in the "blacklist" by the World Health Organization, and the harm to children is specifically manifested in the following aspects:
Causes obesity in the baby and produces various diseases
In some food processing, in order to make the food more delicious and not easy to deteriorate, oils and fats containing human trans fatty acids are used. This trans fatty acid is difficult to be metabolized, and 1 g of trans fatty acids takes 51 days to be excreted.
If the child consumes a large amount of trans fatty acids every day, the body will accumulate a lot of fat for a long time, and these fats will cause the child to become obese.
Once obese, it will increase the risk of various diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and so on.
Affects intellectual development and makes babies "stupid"
Children between the ages of 3 and 12 are the developmental period of the brain. The development of the brain is inseparable from many essential fatty acids (we refer to them as "good fatty acids" here). However, if a large amount of trans fatty acids are accumulated in the child's body, they will interfere with the body's use of "good fatty acids", which will cause the child's central nervous system to develop and affect the child's memory. At the same time, it affects the child's mood; and even affects the child's cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health.
In the long run, it affects the fertility of the child
Trans fatty acids secrete hormones in men and can have a certain effect on the production of sperm. If a child consumes a large amount of trans fatty acids for a long time, entering puberty and adulthood, it may lead to a decline in sexual function and even infertility.
In fact, as early as 2018, the World Health Organization called on governments to take measures to eliminate human trans fatty acids from food within 5 years, because more than 500,000 people die of cardiovascular disease every year because of the intake of trans fats.
But until now, the effect does not seem to be obvious, since the harm is so great, why can't it be prohibited? Look at foods rich in trans fatty acids and you'll see why.
Foods rich in trans fatty acids include: sandwich biscuits, bread, cakes, cookies, a variety of fried foods, pizza, milk tea, potato chips, creamer, burgers, barbecue, and more.
Is it something that both adults and children like to eat? Because the effect of adding trans fatty acids is to make food more delicious. Therefore, it is known that trans fatty acids pose great health risks, but people still can't put it down.
Therefore, it is impossible to not consume trans fats at all, but it is possible to minimize the intake of trans fats under the premise of ensuring reasonable nutritional intake. In general, as long as the trans fat supply accounts for less than 1% of the total energy (roughly equivalent to the intake of trans fat around 2 grams), it is acceptable.
And for children, to avoid eating too much trans fat, parents can do this:
1. When buying food carefully check the nutrition label, trans fatty acids in the ingredient list common names are: hydrogenated vegetable oil, vegetable cream, ghee oil, wheat qi drizzle, if the above ingredients in front of the ingredient list, it means that the more trans fatty acid content added, try to buy as little as possible.
2. Reduce your child's daily intake of oil. Although the content of trans fat in edible oil is not high, if the total amount eaten is large, it will still unconsciously ingest more trans fat.
3. When cooking food, avoid excessive oil temperature and repeated frying methods, which can reduce the formation of trans fat.