Margarine - trans fats - hydrogenated fat
Discussion
This has recently come to my attention.
It go's along the lines of "butter is bad for you, and Flora is good for you.
But now I am not so sure.
Leading heart surgeons have called for a ban, on trans fats in margarines and spreads, and in butter.
I thought the trend away from butter to soft poly unsaturated margerines, were to reduce the sort of artery damage and heart disease.
Interesting read here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/23/...
So what is it to be?
Dry bread ?
I am pretty healthy now, and wish to stay like this for many a year to come.
The article reads that the Flora (Unilever) company were wrong in their claims that margerine is good for you, as opposed to butter.
They were even presented with evidence that thier Flora was looked at as "a poison".
What to do?
vette
It go's along the lines of "butter is bad for you, and Flora is good for you.
But now I am not so sure.
Leading heart surgeons have called for a ban, on trans fats in margarines and spreads, and in butter.
I thought the trend away from butter to soft poly unsaturated margerines, were to reduce the sort of artery damage and heart disease.
Interesting read here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/23/...
So what is it to be?
Dry bread ?
I am pretty healthy now, and wish to stay like this for many a year to come.
The article reads that the Flora (Unilever) company were wrong in their claims that margerine is good for you, as opposed to butter.
They were even presented with evidence that thier Flora was looked at as "a poison".
What to do?
vette
Added it in the past 100 years, and "On a per-calorie basis, trans fats appear to increase the risk of CHD more than any other macronutrient, conferring a substantially increased risk at low levels of consumption (1 to 3% of total energy intake)".
Turkeys do vote for Christmas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat#Health_risk...
Turkeys do vote for Christmas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat#Health_risk...
StuH said:
From the first linky .. The marg process is horrific.
This is best :
Step 1: milk cow.
Step 2: let cream separate naturally.
Step 3: skim off cream.
Step 4: shake until it becomes butter.)
There are actually health benefits to saturated fats; they form stronger cell walls. Second best is mono-unsaturated. I use rape seed oil for frying (should probably use lard) and butter on baked potatoes/mash, but mayonnaise is better on toast with cheese.
Quick history lesson:
Margarine was a Napoleonic war butter substitute, beef fat based. None for sale now; the spreads are all hydrogenated vegetable oils. Trans-fats were developed because they don't go rancid (that you can tell) so are great for increased shelf life. None of them were introduced for health reasons.
Quick history lesson:
Margarine was a Napoleonic war butter substitute, beef fat based. None for sale now; the spreads are all hydrogenated vegetable oils. Trans-fats were developed because they don't go rancid (that you can tell) so are great for increased shelf life. None of them were introduced for health reasons.
Nice little article from that page about grains.
http://wellnessmama.com/575/how-grains-are-killing...
http://wellnessmama.com/575/how-grains-are-killing...
If you are bothered about that kind of thing, you should be avoiding hydrogenated vegetable oil and trans fats (cheap spreads) and naturally occurring saturated fat and cholesterol (butter).
"Saturation" refers to whether the carbon chains in the fatty acids have lots of double bonds like this -CH=CH- (unsaturated) or lots of single bonds like this -CH2-CH2- (saturated). The unsaturated sort are mostly found in plant foods and tend to be runny at room temperature. The saturated sort are found more in animal foods and are more solid. If you take runny vegetable oil and you chemically modify it to saturate some of those bonds (partial hydrogenation), you get a fat which behaves more like an animal fat. Mix it with some water, colour and flavouring and you've got margarine. Consumption of fats which are more saturated, whether occurring naturally or manufactured, is associated with a higher risk of heart disease.
"Trans" refers to the geometrical orientation of the carbon chain of unsaturated fatty acids. Where you have a double bond in a carbon chain, it is possible for the chain to be arranged in two different ways, because the bond can't rotate. You can have the two hydrogen atoms on one side and the next carbon atoms in the chain on the other, or one of each on each side. The former is a cis isomer, the latter a trans. It's a subtle difference, but it turns out to be biologically important. Cis fats are much more common in nature. When you hydrogenate vegetable oil industrially, you tend to end up with mostly the trans isomers. Consumption of the trans fats is associated with a higher risk of heart disease.
It's increasingly become the case that vegetable oil based spreads don't contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil because of the desire to avoid trans fats - they tend instead to contain thickeners and stabilisers to give the desired texture.
"Saturation" refers to whether the carbon chains in the fatty acids have lots of double bonds like this -CH=CH- (unsaturated) or lots of single bonds like this -CH2-CH2- (saturated). The unsaturated sort are mostly found in plant foods and tend to be runny at room temperature. The saturated sort are found more in animal foods and are more solid. If you take runny vegetable oil and you chemically modify it to saturate some of those bonds (partial hydrogenation), you get a fat which behaves more like an animal fat. Mix it with some water, colour and flavouring and you've got margarine. Consumption of fats which are more saturated, whether occurring naturally or manufactured, is associated with a higher risk of heart disease.
"Trans" refers to the geometrical orientation of the carbon chain of unsaturated fatty acids. Where you have a double bond in a carbon chain, it is possible for the chain to be arranged in two different ways, because the bond can't rotate. You can have the two hydrogen atoms on one side and the next carbon atoms in the chain on the other, or one of each on each side. The former is a cis isomer, the latter a trans. It's a subtle difference, but it turns out to be biologically important. Cis fats are much more common in nature. When you hydrogenate vegetable oil industrially, you tend to end up with mostly the trans isomers. Consumption of the trans fats is associated with a higher risk of heart disease.
It's increasingly become the case that vegetable oil based spreads don't contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil because of the desire to avoid trans fats - they tend instead to contain thickeners and stabilisers to give the desired texture.
LordGrover said:
I thought everyone knows hydrogenated fats are the devil's work. Haven't had any in years.
Haven't eaten bread for over a year either though.
I use ghee for low temperature frying/cooking, especially scrambled eggs.
NO bread for that long? Do you eat oats?Haven't eaten bread for over a year either though.
I use ghee for low temperature frying/cooking, especially scrambled eggs.
What are typical breakfasts for you my Lord?
Thanks every one who posted reply.
I didn't know the margarine was that bad.
I was under the impression, margarine was healthy,---what a let down.
Looks like we will head back to butter.
I know butter should be kept in the fridge, but then it's almost imposssible to spread, without wrecking the bread.
How long can butter stay out of the fridge for before it starts to go off?
I suppose one could simply cut a 250 gram block of butter into 4, and just keep 1 of the blocks out of the fridge at any one time?
vette
I didn't know the margarine was that bad.
I was under the impression, margarine was healthy,---what a let down.
Looks like we will head back to butter.
I know butter should be kept in the fridge, but then it's almost imposssible to spread, without wrecking the bread.
How long can butter stay out of the fridge for before it starts to go off?
I suppose one could simply cut a 250 gram block of butter into 4, and just keep 1 of the blocks out of the fridge at any one time?
vette
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff