The Truth about trans fats

[webfact]

The Truth about trans fats

By PARINYAPORN PAJEE 
THE NATION

 

The Bakery at Dome at Thammasat University's Rangsit Campus offers totally trans fats bakery products./Nation Photo

 

Confusion over what products contain partially hydrogenated oils drives Thais away from their favourite local foods
 

A recent Public Health Ministry regulation banning the production, import and distribution of industrially produced trans fats and food products containing partially hydrogenated oil (PHO) has revealed just how little the Thai public really understands about trans fats. 

 

An example: some food stalls offering the popular khai kratha - eggs fried in a small pan with Chinese sausage, minced pork and spring onion – saw their customers disappear into thin air just one night after the announcement. Also affected were the vendors of crispy sweetened roti, a popular breakfast snack among workers. 

 

The consumers believed that the cooking oils, margarine and butter used by these food vendors contained trans fats and so they should avoid all and any related products using PHOs.

 

“That really reflects a total misconception of the ban on trans fats,” says Dr Wilailuk Chaiyasit, an expert on lipids from Department of Food Science & Technology, Thammasat University.

 

Dr Wilailuk Chaiyasit

 

In some ways, Partially Hydrogenated Oil is synonymous with trans fats as the partial hydrogenation in vegetable oil yields trans fats – the artificial fat that has been used in making margarine, margarine, cooking oil, bakery goods and in frying fast food dates back to the 1940s. The benefit of PHO is that it doesn’t create rancidity and so extends the shelf life of the products. PHO can convert liquid fats to a solid at room temperature, which is beneficial for the texture and shape of bakery items, and is considerably cheaper than butter.

 

 The use of PHO products in baking is especially good for making flaky crusts for pies, puffs and the Thai dessert khanom pia. It also increases the shelf life of baked goods and improves their texture. For decades, food manufacturers added partially hydrogenated oil to cookies, crackers, bread, frozen foods and more, and food companies and restaurants used it for frying. Then in the 1990s, research confirmed that PHO products are related to coronary artery disease, strokes, raising levels of LDL (often referred to as “bad cholesterol”), lowering levels of HDL (“good cholesterol”), increasing triglycerides in the bloodstream and promoting systemic inflammation. 

 

Professor Visith Chavasit

 

“It’s true that PHO has been used in food industry for decades, but in Thailand, the situation changed years ago. We find that most manufacturers no longer produce or use PHOs. Most of the products on the market don’t contain trans fats but customers are unaware of that,” says Professor Visith Chavasit, Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University who has conducted research into trans fats in Thailand and was involved in pushing for the ban.

 

Professor Visith first conducted the research on trans fats about 10 years ago when the Food and Drug Administration proposed adding trans fats content to product labels. The idea was dropped after they discovered that PHO products were actually far lower than they expected. Thus, listing trans fats would cause confusion and lead customers to focus on trans fat while ignoring other ingredients like saturated fats, which are also considered harmful to our health.

 

“It’s rather like putting a warning sign up on Rajadamnoen Road to beware of snakes. The snake sign will focus attention on looking for snakes to the point where they could well be hit by a car, of which there are many of the road,” he says.

 

The ban on PHO is actually aimed at a few manufacturers, suppliers and food producers who insist using PHO products as long as there is no law prohibiting it. They reason customers won’t like the taste of the goodies without it and don’t want to lose their market share.

 

“I admire those who have had the courage to change their recipes even though it meant losing revenue. So in January, when the ban comes into effect, the customers will feel they were informed in plenty of time and will feel less opposed to the new formulas,” says Visith.

 

Margarin, butter and shortening which are produced from partially hydrogenated oil have been used in bakery items for decades but will be banned from January next year.

 

Banning PHO will help eliminate trans fats from PHOs from Thailand, but won’t of course put a halt to the trans fats that occur naturally in meat and dairy products from ruminants.

 

“It is impossible to ban all products containing trans fats. The natural trans fats found in products from ruminants and in refined cooking oil are much lower than the trans fats from PHO. So they are not dangerous to our health,” he adds.

 

Fortunately, Thai food culture does not rely on PHO ingredients but relies mainly on coconut or rice bran oils. The demand for PHO arrived in Thailand with the western food culture, particularly bakery items. 

 

The World Health Organisation’s recommendation says that adult and children should consume a maximum of one per cent trans fats of their daily calories. Nutrition labels on food products indicate that trans fats from PHO is on average 3-4 per cent or higher meanwhile the natural trans fats from meat and dairy products is below 0.4 per cent and can therefore be declared as 0 per cent trans fats.

 

Reading the product label is a must for those who want to avoid the problem, even though cooking oil, margarine or shortening products in Thailand’s supermarket contain 0 per cent trans fats. Use of Partially Hydrogenated Oil can however be found in some products like doughnuts, chocolate, crust pies and non-dairy cream as well as in 3 in 1 coffee.

 

Assistant Professor Dr Pornpoj Pramyothin from Division of Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital says that the confusion at the ban is a clear indication that we don’t have sufficient basic health basic knowledge, as all these procedures have been in place for years.

 

He says what most of his patients with trans fats-related diseases share in common is drinking 3 in 1 coffee every day. 

 

“It is one of the major causes of the metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels — that increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes,” says Dr Pornpoj.

 

“They drink one of these sachets two or three times a day and with that consumption, it’s only a week or so before they have the entire metabolic syndrome. But after they stop drinking it, then the blood pressure and cholesterol go back to normal,” says Dr Pornpoj.

 

He adds that even though trans fats are the most dangerous of fatty acids, focusing on them alone is unlikely to correct. 

And just like that snake on Rajadamnoen Road, we focus on one point instead of looking at the overall picture.

 

“It ‘s good to ban trans fats but they are not the only bad food with which people should be concerned. Too much saturated fat is also dangerous to your health as are too much sugar and salt. Good food consumption doesn’t depend on just avoiding fat, it should focus on balancing the five groups of food we need in our diets,” he says.

 

Dr Pornpoj says that Thais also over-consume sugar especially from drinks and fruits, as well as salt and oily products. He gives a daily formulation of intake of 6-6-1, which means we should not eat over six spoons of sugar, fat, and one spoon of salt.

 

“Don’t just focus on fat. Be cautious in everything you eat and that will prevent you from falling sick,” he says.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/lifestyle/30351065

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-31

 

 

[alant]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Bakery at Dome at Thammasat University's Rangsit Campus offers totally trans fats bakery products

Don't quite understand.

[alant]

Would have like some references to back up claims but if it help improve diets fair enough.

I think it would help if such things as zero sugar drinks and low fat products were produced and made available maybe at a lower price.

There is little to know choice in the low sugar drink market here once you go past cola.

[fantom]

I have just checked the ingredient list on Nestles Coffe mate.

Contains 34 % Fully hydrogenated vegetable oil.  The balance is mainly, 61%, glucose syrup (suger)

 

Interesting post.

[spidermike007]

When shopping, I always check the labels. If they are not in english, I do not buy the product. Avoid all unhealthy oils. Most products have canola, palm, soybean, cottonseed, or corn oil. All of these are deadly. All are nearly fully saturated oils. But products only made with safflower, sunflower, rice bran, coconut and olive oil. Same with cooking. Use only those oils for cooking. They are readily available here, and are inexpensive. All have high flash points, and are healthy oils for eating and cooking. It is about quality, when it comes to oils.

 

Never, ever allow a Thai woman to select the oil for cooking, until they have been educated about this. They have zero awareness of what a healthy oil looks like, and will inevitably always buy the cheapest (least healthy) oil. We are talking about cholesterol, circulatory and heart health here. Important stuff. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by spidermike007

[spidermike007]

7 minutes ago, fantom said:

I have just checked the ingredient list on Nestles Coffe mate.

Contains 34 % Fully hydrogenated vegetable oil.  The balance is mainly, 61%, glucose syrup (suger)

 

Interesting post.

Checking the ingredient list on all products is a good idea. You will not believe the crap they put into the majority of products. 34% vegetable oil means a very inferior oil. Probably palm oil, which is deadly. 

[sungod]

Not picking a fight with you, but canola oil was on your list of deadly oils. Yet all over the net it says its good. Where's your angle please, I'm genuinely interested?

 

Canola oil is cholesterol-free and contains the lowest level of saturated fatty acids of any vegetable oil. It is also high in monounsaturated fatty acids and has moderate levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Both of these fatty acids are considered healthy and have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels. The Mayo Clinic recommends canola oil as one of the top heart-healthy oils to choose from. Canola oil, when used in moderation, can be part of a balanced and heart-healthy diet.

[brain150]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

When shopping, I always check the labels. If they are not in english, I do not buy the product. Avoid all unhealthy oils. Most products have canola, palm, soybean, cottonseed, or corn oil. All of these are deadly. All are nearly fully saturated oils. But products only made with safflower, sunflower, rice bran, coconut and olive oil. Same with cooking. Use only those oils for cooking. They are readily available here, and are inexpensive. All have high flash points, and are healthy oils for eating and cooking. It is about quality, when it comes to oils.

 

Never, ever allow a Thai woman to select the oil for cooking, until they have been educated about this. They have zero awareness of what a healthy oil looks like, and will inevitably always buy the cheapest (least healthy) oil. We are talking about cholesterol, circulatory and heart health here. Important stuff. 

When did Sunflower oil become healthy ?

[transam]

4 minutes ago, brain150 said:

When did Sunflower oil become healthy ?

When I was a kid there was only beef fat to fry in...Family lived into their eighties, you know, the ones that used beef fat all their lives....

[brain150]

17 minutes ago, sungod said:

Not picking a fight with you, but canola oil was on your list of deadly oils. Yet all over the net it says its good. Where's your angle please, I'm genuinely interested?

 

Canola oil is cholesterol-free and contains the lowest level of saturated fatty acids of any vegetable oil. It is also high in monounsaturated fatty acids and has moderate levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Both of these fatty acids are considered healthy and have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels. The Mayo Clinic recommends canola oil as one of the top heart-healthy oils to choose from. Canola oil, when used in moderation, can be part of a balanced and heart-healthy diet.

Canola oil is unhealthy just like ANY vegetable oil is !

The science is pretty clear on this.

 

It's just that it's so much cheaper to produce and as such a goldmine for the food industry.

 

You need to be careful with "Yet all over the net it says its good"

The net is full of BS and fake science. It's actually one big propaganda platform.

 

I also don't understand your concern about "cholesterol" ... or why does your liver produce such an enormous amount of it ?

"The Mayo Clinic" is a very bad source for information on health - they make profits from sick people, not from healthy ones.

 

[brain150]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

When I was a kid there was only beef fat to fry in...Family lived into their eighties, you know, the ones that used beef fat all their lives....

True ... and then we started to feed livestock on grains and started to use cheap oils.

Now everybody is sick and overweight and everybody still thinks they are healthy.

 

Now being fat is called "happy size" ... the dumbing down of society is in full swing and working perfectly for the powers that should never be.

[korkenzieher]

The time worn beauty of engaging the mouth, before the brain has been put in gear.

 

Create a climate of fear of the unknown, amongst the uneducated (because WE are SCIENTISTS!), and then watch panic sweep the affected industries when people make entirely predictable choices out of fear. Here we go again...

[transam]

8 minutes ago, brain150 said:

True ... and then we started to feed livestock on grains and started to use cheap oils.

Now everybody is sick and overweight and everybody still thinks they are healthy.

 

Now being fat is called "happy size" ... the dumbing down of society is in full swing and working perfectly for the powers that should never be.

You must bring "lifestyle" into the equation..To me that is the biggest downside to modern life..

 

We all know that folk are living longer, but those folk were brought up cooking with beef fat, although in my experience most grub was boiled plus loads of veg.....

[korkenzieher]

16 minutes ago, brain150 said:

Canola oil is unhealthy just like ANY vegetable oil is !

The science is pretty clear on this.

 

It's just that it's so much cheaper to produce and as such a goldmine for the food industry.

 

You need to be careful with "Yet all over the net it says its good"

The net is full of BS and fake science. It's actually one big propaganda platform.

 

I also don't understand your concern about "cholesterol" ... or why does your liver produce such an enormous amount of it ?

"The Mayo Clinic" is a very bad source for information on health - they make profits from sick people, not from healthy ones.

 

Canola stands for Canadian Oil Low Acid, and is the most widespread GM product, alongside sweetcorn. The Low Acid cultivar was developed because Rapeseed oil contained approx 10% Erucic acid, which is a neuro-toxin. Rapeseed was never intended to be for human consumption. At 2% Erucic acid (Canola) it is considered safe for humans, BUT initially the cause of BSE (mad cow disease) was suspected to be rapeseed pulp used in cattle feed (and that is direct from the editors of the Veterinary Review, circa 1987) before people were finally forced to accept Richard Lacey's 'rogue protein' explanation.

 

Personally, I won't touch the stuff. And in my opinion (and it IS only my opinion), we are heading for a health crisis *simply* because of the instability of many PUFA's in the human diet.

[sungod]

1 hour ago, brain150 said:

Canola oil is unhealthy just like ANY vegetable oil is !

The science is pretty clear on this.

 

It's just that it's so much cheaper to produce and as such a goldmine for the food industry.

 

You need to be careful with "Yet all over the net it says its good"

The net is full of BS and fake science. It's actually one big propaganda platform.

 

I also don't understand your concern about "cholesterol" ... or why does your liver produce such an enormous amount of it ?

"The Mayo Clinic" is a very bad source for information on health - they make profits from sick people, not from healthy ones.

 

When I talk about the net I refer to American/British Heart Foundations etc. I'd tend to follow their science on stuff like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brain150]

8 minutes ago, sungod said:

When I talk about the net I refer to American/British Heart Foundations etc. I'd tend to follow their science on stuff like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ups ... the guys that are heavily sponsored by the food industry and the pharma corporations ???

Very reliable source for info on health ?

 

Just like the American Cancer Association that still says chemo is a good option ... with a success rate of below 3% !!! [according to their data !!!]

 

You might want to use another source of information.

Maybe someone who really cures people.

 

After all: The whole health disaster and obesity epidemic happened under their watch and with their guidance ... or am I getting this wrong ?

Edited July 31, 2018 by brain150

[sungod]

Thanks Brian, do you believe the world is flat also?

[chilli42]

“Margarin, butter and shortening which are produced from partially hydrogenated oil have been used in bakery items for decades but will be banned from January next year.”

 

This is the second article where butter is mentioned as being hydrogenated (containing trans fat).  If they want to avoid confusing the public then they need to get their facts straight.  Butter is saturated fat, no trans fat.  

[spidermike007]

3 hours ago, brain150 said:

When did Sunflower oil become healthy ?

It has always been healthy. A wonderful oil for cooking. And the best part? Inexpensive and readily available at most supermarkets in Thailand, though quite expensive elsewhere in the world.

 

One of the primary reasons for the growing popularity of sunflower oil is its impressive fatty acid content, which includes palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, lecithin, carotenoids, selenium, and linoleic acid.  The combination of fatty acids in the body are extremely important to maintain various elements of human health, and sunflower oil can help maintain that balance.

Furthermore, some of those fatty acids, as well as vitamin E (tocopherols) and other organic compounds, act as antioxidants in sunflower oil, which means that they can positively affect a huge range of conditions that people regularly suffer from. It also has more polyunsaturated fats than any other commonly used vegetable oil, and with the recent craze of eating healthy and searching for alternative options, sunflower oil is becoming quite desirable on the international market. This oil is also rich in proteins, copper, iron, zinc, calcium, and omega-6 fatty acids.

 

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/oils/sunflower-oil.html

Edited July 31, 2018 by spidermike007

[Jonmarleesco]

'The World Health Organisation’s recommendation says that adult and children should consume a maximum of one per cent trans fats of their daily calories.'

 

And it goes without saying that they're going to be measuring the level... 

[brain150]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

... and omega-6 fatty acids.

What's so good about omega 6 ? ... especially in relation to Omega 3 ?

Is it all just copy paste from a web page that sounds good ?

Science actually says something very different about it.

 

Ever heard of something called "lectins" ... the stuff that makes you sick ?

[Burl Ives]

Having worked in the edible oil industry all my life I find most of the comments very amusing! Let's start with some hard facts:

• Polyunsaturated fats Contain two or more carbon-carbon double bonds. When eaten in as food such nuts, seeds, fish and leafy greens, they have clear health benefits. However, the benefits of consuming sunflower oil and corn oil, although rich in polyunsaturates, are much less clear.
• Monounsaturated oils Contain just one carbon-carbon double bond. They are found in avocados, olives, olive oil, almonds and hazelnuts, and also in lard and goose fat. Olive oil, which is approximately 76% monounsaturated, is a key component in the Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of heart disease.
• Saturated fats have no double bonds between carbon atoms. Although we are encouraged to switch from eating saturated fats, particularly dairy and other fats derived from animals, the benefits of doing so are being challenged.
• The percentages of each in the oils below varies somewhat but these values are typical

Type of oil or fat	Poly-unsaturated (%)	Mono-unsaturated (%)	Saturated (%)
Coconut oil	2	6	86
Butter	3	21	51
Lard	11	45	39
Goose fat	11	56	27
Olive oil	10	76	14
Rapeseed oil	28	63	7
Sesame oil	41	40	14
Corn oil	54	27	12
Sunflower oil	65	20	10

 

So from this table you can see coconut oil is high in saturated fats, so is unhealthy as a salad oil, but has good frying properties because of its high content of saturated oils,  which are more stable at high temperature. Conversely oils high in poly- and mono- unsaturates which help with LDL/HDL cholesterol (google it) make good salad oils, but lousy frying oils because they decompose on heating. Canola oil BTW is Low Erusic Rape.

 

Re hydrogenation, it was used for years to produce steep melting fats (from cheap liquid oils e.g.Fish an Soyabean) which had excellent baking properties as well as good mouth feel in margarines. Most of the big named manufacturers (one of which I use to work for) did away with Hyrogenated oils many years ago and replaced them with small amounts of fractionated oils and fats, like Palm Olein and Palm Stearin. The cheapest oils on the shelves here are Palm olein which have reasonable frying properties and a good taste. Hope this clears the air!

[sungod]

9 hours ago, sungod said:

When I talk about the net I refer to American/British Heart Foundations etc. I'd tend to follow their science on stuff like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, brain150 said:

Ups ... the guys that are heavily sponsored by the food industry and the pharma corporations ???

Very reliable source for info on health ?

 

Just like the American Cancer Association that still says chemo is a good option ... with a success rate of below 3% !!! [according to their data !!!]

 

You might want to use another source of information.

Maybe someone who really cures people.

 

After all: The whole health disaster and obesity epidemic happened under their watch and with their guidance ... or am I getting this wrong ?

Do you know what, as I was eating my grilled salmon with nice fresh veg and lashings of Olive oil, (all healthy foods on the British and American Heart Foundation's website) and then finishing off with a nice helping of juicy fruit, I thought about your comment above and wondered if they were having me over on this as well, and were they really a reliable source of health information. I guess my doctor and dietician are in cahoots and trying to kill me too!

Edited July 31, 2018 by sungod

[kevvy]

10 hours ago, transam said:

When I was a kid there was only beef fat to fry in...Family lived into their eighties, you know, the ones that used beef fat all their lives....

Fried bread ... yum..

[spidermike007]

16 hours ago, Burl Ives said:

Having worked in the edible oil industry all my life I find most of the comments very amusing! Let's start with some hard facts:

• Polyunsaturated fats Contain two or more carbon-carbon double bonds. When eaten in as food such nuts, seeds, fish and leafy greens, they have clear health benefits. However, the benefits of consuming sunflower oil and corn oil, although rich in polyunsaturates, are much less clear.
• Monounsaturated oils Contain just one carbon-carbon double bond. They are found in avocados, olives, olive oil, almonds and hazelnuts, and also in lard and goose fat. Olive oil, which is approximately 76% monounsaturated, is a key component in the Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of heart disease.
• Saturated fats have no double bonds between carbon atoms. Although we are encouraged to switch from eating saturated fats, particularly dairy and other fats derived from animals, the benefits of doing so are being challenged.
• The percentages of each in the oils below varies somewhat but these values are typical

Type of oil or fat	Poly-unsaturated (%)	Mono-unsaturated (%)	Saturated (%)
Coconut oil	2	6	86
Butter	3	21	51
Lard	11	45	39
Goose fat	11	56	27
Olive oil	10	76	14
Rapeseed oil	28	63	7
Sesame oil	41	40	14
Corn oil	54	27	12
Sunflower oil	65	20	10

 

So from this table you can see coconut oil is high in saturated fats, so is unhealthy as a salad oil, but has good frying properties because of its high content of saturated oils,  which are more stable at high temperature. Conversely oils high in poly- and mono- unsaturates which help with LDL/HDL cholesterol (google it) make good salad oils, but lousy frying oils because they decompose on heating. Canola oil BTW is Low Erusic Rape.

 

Re hydrogenation, it was used for years to produce steep melting fats (from cheap liquid oils e.g.Fish an Soyabean) which had excellent baking properties as well as good mouth feel in margarines. Most of the big named manufacturers (one of which I use to work for) did away with Hyrogenated oils many years ago and replaced them with small amounts of fractionated oils and fats, like Palm Olein and Palm Stearin. The cheapest oils on the shelves here are Palm olein which have reasonable frying properties and a good taste. Hope this clears the air!

Palm oil is bad on a number of levels. From an environmental point of view (if you do consider such things) it is terribly destructive, as the huge palm forests decimate the local jungles.

 

If palm oil was manufactured in an ethical way, it would seem a fairly solid choice for the kitchen. However, it’s now used in around 50% of foods and other household products sold in the western world, and is currently the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet. To satisfy this huge demand, tens of millions of tonnes of palm oil is produced every year. However, the production of this oil is contributing in major ways to deforestation, climate change, and the deaths of tens of thousands of animals. The situation is so bad that supermarket giant Iceland has announced it’s banning palm oil from all own brand products by the end of the year.

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2018/04/10/palm-oil-bad-7455547/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

 

The industry is linked to major issues such as deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced, as the land and forests must be cleared for the development of the oil palm plantations. According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area the equivalent size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour to make way for palm oil production. This large-scale deforestation is pushing many species to extinction, and findings show that if nothing changes species like the orangutan could become extinct in the wild within the next 5-10 years, and Sumatran tigers less than 3 years. 
 

http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/Whats_the_issue.php

 

But, from a nutritional point of view, Palm kernel oil sounds harmless and even “natural,” right? And in recent years, it’s been finding its way into many packaged foods as manufacturers look for low-cost oils to replace trans fats. (After federal rules mandated all packaged foods list the amount of heart-damaging trans fats they contain on their "Nutrition Facts" labels, many manufacturers reformulated their products to ferret out the offending fat and earn a better-looking label.) Highly saturated fats turn rancid more slowly, so food companies often use them to help preserve taste and texture. Trans-fat-free—and relatively inexpensive—palm oil fit the bill. Its long shelf life and semi-solid state at room temperature make it appealing to food companies.

How can you figure out if foods you are eating contain palm oil? You want to look on the ingredients list: palm oil is commonly found in packaged cookies, cakes, snacks, bakery goods, crackers and peanut butter. (Sometimes it’s listed as “modified,” “partially hydrogenated” or “fractionated” palm oil, which would indicate trans fats; even if the Nutrition Facts panel indicates zero trans fats, products containing less than 0.5 gram of trans fats can be labeled as trans-fat-free.) Sometimes palm oil is one of the oils listed under the term “vegetable oil.”

 

While unmodified palm kernel oil is trans-fat-free, about 80 percent of its fat is saturated, with about 22 grams saturated fat in each 2-tablespoon serving (for comparison there are 14 grams of saturated fat in two tablespoons of butter). For a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, that’s the maximum amount of saturated fat you should be eating. Most experts agree that saturated fats raise levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in the blood. That’s damaging to the heart and arteries, since excessive LDL accumulates in artery walls and can trigger inflammation, eventually leading to a heart attack or stroke. (Confusingly, palm fruit oil—also known as palm oil or red palm oil—is rich in a form of vitamin E that preliminary research indicates may help fight cancer and prevent strokes; it is also lower in saturated fat.)

 

http://www.eatingwell.com/article/188160/the-dangerous-ingredient-youre-eatingand-dont-even-know-it/

[Burl Ives]

Palm oil is also used as a feed-stock for bio-diesel which Thailand produced to use up the surplus when the price is down. I agree the environmental consequences of palm oil farming are disastrous.

[rickudon]

Here we have the usual conflicting information from different posters, wonder how you decide which is 'fake news?'. Now we are (i hope) reasonably well educated people with good access to information sources. If we cannot get much of a consensus what chance have 90% of Thais got with only their basic education (thinking not encouraged), lack of command of other languages (e.g. if you want to research using wikipedia, In Thai only have 2% of the information in Thai compared to English)? Add to that the conflicting, ambiguous  messages about Trans-fat from the Thai government (also well known for downright disinformation), is it surprising Thais are panicking as to what is safe? (if they care at all).

 

When i checked the labels on products that contained fat in our fridge, none mentioned trans-fats,  most had an obviously abbreviated contents and composition list and one had none at all .....

 

Must now check my 3-in-1 coffee and decide if i have a metabolic syndrome ........

[balo]

3 in 1 or 2 in 1 coffee's should be avoided , right ? The cream powder is full of trans fat . 

 

[attrayant]

Probably palm oil, which is deadly.

What basis do you use to classify palm oil as deadly?

I usually associate that word with a substance that will put you in the morgue if you ingest a moderate amount, say a spoonful or less. A deadly mushroom, or a deadly weapon.

I’m pretty sure I’d be safe drinking a spoonful of palm oil.

[attrayant]

"The Mayo Clinic" is a very bad source for information on health - they make profits from sick people, not from healthy ones.

 

Are you under the impression the Mayo Clinic is merely a medical clinic with doctors and nurses, where people can walk in and pay for medical services? Because that’s what it seems like.

 

I also don't understand your concern about "cholesterol"

 

Excess cholesterol intake is associated with coronary artery disease.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19645040