Dr Hector Perera London

Unlike other dietary fats, trans fat also called trans-fatty acids both raises your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and lowers your HDL (“good”) cholesterol. A diet laden with trans-fat increases your risk of heart disease, the leading killer of men and women. Here’s some information about trans-fat and how to avoid it. In a C=C double bond if there are two groups are on the same side of the C=C bond then they are on CIS arrangement. If the groups such as CH₃  or even H atoms on the opposite side of the  C=C double bond then they are in TRANS position. They are the CIS and TRANS.

What is trans-fat?

Some meat and dairy products contain small amounts of naturally occurring trans fat. But most trans-fat is formed through an industrial process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil, which causes the oil to become solid at room temperature.

Trans fats are artificially created by pumping hydrogen into liquid oil. Margarine is an example of a liquid oil that has hydrogenated oils added to it, making it a trans-fat. So do French fries. The potato, of course, does not contain trans fats. However, when they are fried in hydrogenated oils, they become soaked with them. That’s why you should only eat fries that are cooked in non-hydrogenated oils.

From the above, we can see that trans fats are not natural fats. They are manmade. When they get into your system they will alter your biochemistry. Ultimately this will change your metabolism. This can lead to diabetes resulting from obesity.

Trans fats will also lower your good (HDL) cholesterol and raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol. It also causes heart attacks and strokes. Trans fats even cause dementia and cancer. The first secret is to always read the label. The second is to be on the lookout for the word ‘hydrogenated’. You do not want that word on the label. Doing this one simple thing will upgrade your diet, improving the quality of the food you eat.

You will feel a whole lot better and you will be much healthier for removing trans fats from your diet.

Unsaturated fats are extremely good for us. Things like olive oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, avocado, and nuts are all good things to have in your diet. You can have 40-70 grams of unsaturated fats in your diet each day.

Coconut oil is one of the best oils for cooking

Coconut oil – bad for LDL cholesterol. But other long-chain saturated fatty acids, like the ones that make up most of the saturated fat in coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils (known as tropical oils), do in fact raise LDL cholesterol considerably. These saturated fats are called palmitic, myristic, and lauric acids.

Coconut oil is high in natural saturated fats

Saturated fats not only increase the healthy cholesterol (known as HDL cholesterol) in your body, but also help convert the LDL bad” cholesterol into good cholesterols. By increasing the HDL in the body, it helps promote heart health and lower the risk of heart disease.

It’s perfectly suitable for sautéing, baking, roasting, and even frying. Unrefined coconut oil has a strong coconutty” flavour and aroma, which is great to use in your recipes if you’re a fan of that profile. If not, go for the refined coconut oil, which is extremely neutral in both taste and aroma. Heat, along with light and oxygen, can destroy the beneficial fats in some oils. Polyunsaturated fats are the most fragile and are not recommended for cooking. Coconut oil, being mainly a saturated fat, is able to withstand higher temperatures than other oils, making it one of the best oils for cooking. No wonder all Sri Lankans use coconut oil for cooking and frying. Unlike any other saturated fats, coconut oil molecule is quite short compared to other fat molecules.

Saturated fat is not good for the heart. Examples are butter and cheese. You should consume saturated fat in moderation, with it making up around 7% of your diet. That’s about 14 grams for the average person, which equates to two tablespoons of butter or two slices of cheese. Most British TV chefs add plenty of butter in their cooking, perhaps they are unaware of the health point of views.

The first secret is to always read the label. The second is to be on the lookout for the word ‘hydrogenated’. You do not want that word on the label. Doing this one simple thing will upgrade your diet, improving the quality of the food you eat.

You will feel a whole lot better and you will be much healthier for removing trans fats from your diet.

Trans fats raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. Eating trans fats increases your risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Trans fat in your food

Doughnuts, cookies, crackers, muffins, pies and cakes are examples of foods that may contain trans fat. Limit how frequently you eat them. The manufactured form of trans fat, known as partially hydrogenated oil, is found in a variety of food products, as mentioned above. Baked goods. Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

I wonder if the British TV chefs have any idea of these things. That is another point that British TV chefs are not applying any science in cooking. They just add lots of butter to hot cooking pans and virtually shower with the evaporating butter. I am sure you have seen the rest of their cooking. When the cooking pans are over heated, the thermal capacity transforms quickly transforms them into vapour.

Previous research has shown that trans fats, like saturated fats, also raise LDL (“bad”)-cholesterol levels. This suggests that trans fatty acids increase the risk of heart disease more than the intake of saturated fats. The major sources of trans fats in our diet are the ready-made baked goods and fried fast foods.

Hydrogenation, complete or partial, is a chemical process in which hydrogen is added to liquid oils to turn them into a solid form. Partially hydrogenated fat molecules have trans fats, and they may be the worst type of fat you can consume.

This partially hydrogenated oil is less likely to spoil, so foods made with it have a longer shelf life. Some restaurants use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in their deep fryers, because it doesn’t have to be changed as often as do other oils.

Trans fat in your food

The manufactured form of trans fat, known as partially hydrogenated oil, is found in a variety of food products, including, baked goods. Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat. Snacks such as potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans-fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans-fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn. Fried food. Foods that require deep frying — French fries, doughnuts and fried chicken can contain trans-fat from the oil used in the cooking process. Refrigerator dough. Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans-fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.

However much we mentioned about the good and bad side of trans fats, most people ignore in their shopping and eating. They totally forget the health aspects once they enter a supermarket as the goods are laid out with attractive and discount prices. As mentioned above by eating certain foods in moderation would be better for your health. Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk