Trans fats are harmful, so can we eat foods marked “0” safely?

As the concept of healthy eating becomes more popular

Everyone knows that we should eat less trans fats

After all, its shortcomings are indeed a bit prominent

According to the World Health Organization, trans fats cause more than 500,000 deaths from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases each year worldwide.

Buy food and drinks

The first reaction is to look at the ingredient list

Want to eat some barbecue and fried chicken

Think twice

But everyone defends left and right

But it is easy to ignore the hidden dangers from the kitchen

When people use vegetable oil to cook, they all know that they have to wait until the oil is hot before pouring the food in. Many people are used to "waiting until the smoke rises before adding the food."

Image source: Photo Network

However, although the food may smell delicious, it is actually an unhealthy way of cooking if you wait until the oil starts to smoke before putting the food into the pan.

When vegetable oil is heated to the point where it smokes, the temperature is already very high. Such a high temperature will cause the unsaturated fatty acids in the oil to undergo oxidative isomerization and turn into trans fatty acids that are harmful to the human body.

Whether it is rapeseed oil or peanut oil, the oil temperature basically reaches about 200°C when it starts to smoke. Even if the heating time is short, some trans fatty acids have been produced. The longer the heating time, the more trans fatty acids are likely to be produced.

People are becoming more and more aware of trans fatty acids and know to eat less processed foods containing trans fats. However, the trans fatty acids produced by this inappropriate cooking method may slip through the net if you are not careful.

Since each family's cooking method may be long-term and fixed, the impact of this eating habit on health is also accumulating unknowingly.

● Pay attention to the oil temperature and time when cooking. Do not wait until the oil temperature is too high before cooking. When the oil starts to bubble a little, it is almost done. Do not heat the vegetable oil for stir-frying or deep-frying for too long.

● Use a variety of cooking methods. In addition to stir-frying and deep-frying, you can also choose to cook with relatively less oil or lower oil temperature such as steaming, boiling, braising, etc.

● Use different oils for different cooking situations. Flaxseed oil and rapeseed oil can be used for cold dishes; peanut oil, olive oil, soybean oil, and corn oil can be used for cooking; if you really can't give up frying, try to choose peanut oil, olive oil, and soybean oil for low-temperature fast frying. Lard, coconut oil, and palm oil are stable for frying, but they have high saturated fatty acid content and are not recommended.

● Try to reduce the number of times you reuse oil. The more times the oil used for frying is heated, the more trans fatty acids it contains, making it less healthy.

There are three main types of fats that we often hear about: saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids, and trans fatty acids.

Image source: Photo Network

Although in theory trans fatty acids are the most well-known and there are a lot of studies showing their harm, this does not mean that other fats are not to blame.

In fact, quite a few studies have shown that saturated fatty acids are also closely related to coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis.

If you want to consume fat in a truly healthy way, there is only one principle - limit the total amount of fat intake.

According to the dietary guidelines of the World Health Organization, adults should control their total daily fat intake to 30% or less of total energy intake, and the intake of trans fatty acids should not exceed 1% of total energy intake.

Many of my greedy friends feel very frustrated when they find out that the food they like is full of trans fatty acids, so they try to overtake others and choose foods that say "0 trans fatty acids" on the packaging.

Do these foods really contain no trans fatty acids? I'm afraid the answer will be disappointing.

According to relevant standards, as long as the trans fatty acid content in every 100 grams of food is less than 0.3 grams, it can be labeled as "0".

Therefore, although the content written on the food packaging is 0, there is still some trans fatty acids.

Image source: Photo Network

However, there is no need to be too alarmed. The content is already so low. If you eat a moderate amount and control your total fat intake, it is not a big problem.

After all, it is not realistic to not eat anything. While taking care of your body, you still have to take care of your mentality.

Statement: This article is a medical-related educational popular science article. It does not involve specific treatment methods or medical behaviors and cannot replace hospital visits.

Experts who reviewed this article

References

[1] Luo Chen. Fat in food is not a "disaster", six misunderstandings must be avoided [N]. China Food News, 2023-11-15(003). DOI:10.28137/n.cnki.ncspb.2023.002224.

[2] Hou Tingting. Dialectical analysis of the relationship between fat and human health[J]. Modern Food, 2022, 28(01): 115-117. DOI: 10.16736/j.cnki.cn41-1434/ts.2022.01.032.

[3] Zheng Yi, He Yahong, He Jiguo. Effect of oil on trans fatty acid content in fried foods[J]. Food Science, 2020, 41(06): 58-63.

Content Production

Editor: Zhang Fuyao

Map: Eastern Zhou Dynasty