Trans fatty acids are ubiquitous in food.
Recently, a new term has become a hot topic of discussion, which is trans fatty acids. How many people know what trans fatty acids are? Random interviews with reporters in the street showed that many people said they were not very clear about it.
Trans fatty acids are produced by partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils. According to the research of American University Medical College, even if the intake of trans fatty acids does not exceed 5 grams per day, the risk of heart disease will increase by 25%. In addition, it will increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, interfere with the metabolism of essential fatty acids, affect the growth and development of children and the health of the nervous system, increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and lead to female infertility.
So, where do trans fatty acids come from? Zhao Lin, chief health education expert of the Ministry of Health, said that hydrogenated oil would produce trans fatty acids. Ordinary citizens simply don't know what hydrogenated oil is, let alone its harm. It is understood that hydrogenated oil is also called vegetable butter, vegetable butter and vegetable fat foam. At present, it is widely used in baking fields such as bread, cheese, margarine, cakes and biscuits. During the First World War, agriculture in many countries was hit, and the supply of animal fat for making cakes was insufficient. American scientists used hydrogenation technology to make vegetable oil have the function of animal fat, replacing the expensive animal oil at that time. According to Zhao Lin, hydrogenated oil is widely used because its taste has conquered consumers and its technical characteristics have conquered processors.
In fact, hydrogenated oil is widely found in the food we touch every day. Almost all cookies, cookies, bread, pies, etc. There are hydrogenated oils.
The reporter made an unannounced visit to a west point shop. According to the staff of the store, all kinds of cakes use cream, and the cream used is plant cream. Zhao Lin said that trans fatty acids are quite common in food now.
Studies have shown that trans fatty acids are harmful to health.
Trans fatty acids, which are ubiquitous in food, have attracted the attention of relevant experts. Deng perennial, vice president of School of Life Sciences of Nanchang University, is engaged in food nutrition and safety research. Recently, his research project is about trans fatty acids. Professor Deng once analyzed blood samples of more than 65,438+0,000 people, of whom about 200 people suffered from cardiovascular diseases. Through the analysis of their blood, Professor Deng found that there is an obvious correlation between the intake of trans fatty acids and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, and this correlation is a very obvious positive correlation. They found that the incidence of cardiovascular diseases can be doubled if the daily dose is about 0.5 grams and the increase is about 0. 1 gram.
The World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggest in Dietary Nutrition and Chronic Diseases that people who consume 2000 kilocalories a day should consume less than 2.2 grams of trans fatty acids a day. However, the expert's findings are worrying. Deng said that the highest content of trans fatty acids in hydrogenated oil is 45%, and the trans fatty acids in hydrogenated oil are about 20%. The content is about 20%. So this is a very high and terrible number.
If we calculate the trans fatty acids with the highest value of 45% calculated by experts, we will consume more than 3 grams of trans fatty acids for every 100 gram of bread. This figure is much higher than the value recommended by WHO.
From 2005 to 2009, Professor Zhao Lin selected 52 famous brands of *** 167 products in China food market, and monitored the oil content, trans fatty acid types and contents of each product. The results showed that 87% of the food samples contained trans fatty acids, including all cheese products, 95% foreign fast food, cakes, bread, fried potato chips and other snacks, about 90%. He said that two years ago, a magazine in Europe commented on the disaster moment of ten kinds of human food. The first final comment is hydrogenated oil, which has been abused so widely for so long that people have not understood it for a long time.
The management standard of trans fatty acids needs to be issued urgently.
The reporter's investigation found that many terms such as refined vegetable oil, shortening and edible hydrogenated oil on some food ingredients lists are actually hydrogenated oils. And the label of trans fatty acids is blank. Labels of nearly 100 kinds of foods involving hydrogenated oil, such as jam, popcorn, biscuits, potato chips and pies. Although hydrogenated oil is clearly marked in the ingredient list, the content of trans fatty acids is not clearly marked in the nutrient composition list.
On 201May 19, China promulgated the National Standard for Food Safety of Infant Formula Food, in which Article 4 clearly stipulates that "hydrogenated oils and fats shall not be used as raw materials". So, is there hydrogenated oil in infant formula on the market at present? The reporter went to a pregnant and baby department store that claimed to have more than 100 chain stores for investigation, and found that most foods such as professional colostrum, complementary food and biscuits almost contained hydrogenated oil.
At present, Europe and the United States have successively issued management standards for trans fatty acids. In China, there is no mandatory requirement for other foods except baby food, that is to say, the content of trans fatty acids in the vegetable oil produced depends on the enterprise itself. Professor Huo Mingde of Peking University Economic Research Center pointed out that if the technology is good, the proportion of trans fatty acids will drop a lot, but the cost will increase.
According to experts, the technology of domestic oil production enterprises is uneven at present, and the difference between the enterprises with the highest trans fatty acid content and the enterprises with the lowest trans fatty acid content is 10 times. Zhu Nianlin, chairman of China Bakery and Sugar Products Industry Association, said: "Now some domestic oil companies have been able to control the production of trans fatty acids."
But why don't bakeries and cake shops widely use vegetable cream with low trans fatty acids? Zhu Nianlin said that this is related to the current food standards and commercial competition in China. In today's fierce market competition, no enterprise is willing to change production technology and raw materials. In addition, although some enterprises can achieve zero ingredients, they give up the production process of reducing trans fatty acids because the oil is not easy to use and tastes bad.
As an enterprise itself, it is also very hoped that the industry standard on trans fatty acids will be promulgated as soon as possible, which is conducive to the healthy development of enterprises.
At present, there are no clear and unified standards and regulations for the production, processing and sales of hydrogenated oil in China. How much trans fatty acid is safe to eat? Although there are no clear standards in every country, it is obvious that consumers should have the right to know. The Ministry of Health attaches great importance to trans fatty acids, and has organized the risk monitoring and evaluation of trans fatty acids, which is currently under way.