ZAR - Transfats

There was a story on 60 Minutes the other night. I didn't watch it but, I saw a clip and caught up with it on their website.

It was about transfat. I'm sure I've heard the word before but really had no idea of the damage that it does.

Transfats are hydrogenised oils, processed in such a way that they form a sticky substance which clogs arteries within our bodies.

It is a scourge within the modern diet. It's used in processed foods and fast food because it gives it an increased shelf life and it's cheap. There are no nutritional benefits of transfat whatsoever. Infact, the increase in cholesterol leads to higher rates of heart disease which is Australia's biggest killer.

Transfat is recognised in the US and Europe as a danger to health. In Australia, it is not considered a danger because the powers that be have judged that we don't consume enough of it. There is no compulsory inclusion of levels of transfat within nutritional labels. The doctors and health experts in the report were of the opinion that any transfat was too much.

It is banned in several states in the US and although this is a contentious issue for civil libertarians who consider it our right to make a choice, the doctor's opinion is that a ban would be a good course of action.

If the other option is for it to be included in food labels then this is one step. You then have to consider how many people read and understand food labels and whether they even know or care what it would do to their health. Also, there are no food labels available when we eat fast food.

Something the doctor in the program said which really concerned me was that the effects of the transfats in clogging arteries can begin in teenage years. This is not something just for the midlifers to worry about. Young people are even less likely to worry about what they put into their bodies - we all believed we were invincible when we were young, and certainly that it would never happen to us.

If there was ever a reason to avoid processed and fast foods, this is it. One quote from the program was "would you rather get your food from a farmer or a chemist?" Cooking from raw, you know what you're feeding yourself and your family.