Recently, the World Health Organization released the latest report that 5 billion people worldwide are exposed to the harm of "trans fat", which also increases their risk of heart disease and death.
In fact, as early as 2018, WHO called for the elimination of industrially produced trans fats at the global level with a target of 2023.
Experts interviewed
Yu Kang, chief physician of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Peking Union Medical College Hospital
Zhang Qian, researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Registered dietitian in China Zhang Xiaoyan
What exactly are trans fats?
Trans fats can also be called trans fatty acids, a kind of unsaturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids can be divided into natural and synthetic two, we need to control the main synthetic ones.
Natural origin
Mainly ruminants such as beef and mutton as well as milk and dairy products. Ruminants have a lot of bacteria in their stomachs involved in the digestive process and ferment to produce trans fats.
Synthetic
Most of the trans fatty acids in life come from the hydrogenation of vegetable oils.
Vegetable oil can change from liquid to solid after hydrogenation, stable and easy for long-term storage, often used to make fried food and margarine (containing 7%~18% trans fatty acids).
What happens if you eat trans fats a lot?
Studies have found that trans fatty acids can increase the risk of coronary heart disease and induce tumors, type 2 diabetes and other diseases.
According to WHO data, trans fats cause more than 500,000 deaths from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases each year.
Although the mechanisms by which they increase the risk of cardiovascular disease are unknown, there is a hypothesis that they interfere with fat metabolism.
It can lead to an increase in LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) and a decrease in HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol), increasing the risk of heart disease.
As WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, food should be a source of health, not disease. Trans fats have no known benefits, but they have huge health risks that impose significant costs on health systems.
What foods are trans fats hidden?
Trans fatty acids are natural and artificial, and it is almost impossible to be completely exposed to them in daily life.
Naturally occurring trans fats contribute negligibly to total intake, with industrially produced trans fats being the main source of their intake.
The "Dietary Nutrition Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022 Edition)" recommends that the daily amount of cooking oil for adults should be 25~30 grams, and the intake of trans fatty acids should not exceed 2 grams.
Foods high in trans fatty acids include margarine, margarine, cocoa butter, and various pastries and biscuits processed with hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Eat less snacks with the name "crisp"
In order to achieve a crispy, soft and fragrant taste, this type of snack will add a lot of fat with high saturated fat content; In order to save costs, some merchants will also use oils containing trans fatty acids to make them.
Whether it is animal oil containing saturated fatty acids or artificial ghee containing trans fatty acids, margarine, etc., regular consumption will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
In addition, snacks containing trans fats include cream cakes, chocolate pies, wafer cookies, filled cakes, egg yolk pies, cocoa butter chocolate products, ice cream, french fries, etc.
Learn to read food ingredient lists
If you see hydrogenated vegetable oil, hydrogenated palm oil, shortening, margarine, creamer, vegetable fat, etc. in the ingredient list, it means that the product may also contain trans fatty acids, and consumers should pay attention to the nutrition label in addition to looking at the name of the product when buying.
Avoid repeatedly heating cooking oil
When cooking, avoid excessive oil temperature and avoid using repeatedly heated oil to cook or fry food.
To use oils, choose monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil) and polyunsaturated fats (such as soy, corn, and sunflower oils).
Pay attention to a balanced diet in general, eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat protein sources and dairy products. ▲
Editor of this issue: Xu Menglian