By Raman Jokhakar, Tarunkumar Singhal, Chartered Accountants
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51 Cooking oils fail health test
Trans fat, a known trigger for heart attacks, causing
thousands of premature deaths globally every year, has been found in
tremendously high quantities in almost all popular Indian cooking oils.
Laboratory tests conducted by Delhi-based Centre for Science
and Environment (CSE) on seven vanaspati brands, 21 different brands of
vegetable oils (soyabean, sunflower, groundnut, mustard, coconut, olive, sesame
and palm), desi ghee and butter available in Indian markets found that trans fat
levels were five to 12 times higher than the world’s recommended standards in
all vanaspati brands.
According to the latest recommendations, trans fat in oil
should not exceed 2% of the total oil. However, the study found trans fat levels
to be as high as 23.7% in the case of Panghat vanaspati brand and 23.31% in the
case of Raag vanaspati. Rath vanaspati had 15.9% trans fat, Gagan had 14.8%,
Jindal had 13.7% while Gemini had 12.7% trans fat content.
Interestingly, the lowest trans fats level was found in desi
ghee and in Amul butter — 5.3% and 3.73%, respectively.
Trans fat occurs when liquid oils solidify by partial
hydrogenation, a process that stretches food shelf life and changes safe
unsaturated fat into a killer. It is known to increase bad LDL cholesterol,
triglycerides and insulin levels and reduces beneficial HDL cholesterol. Trans
fats also trigger cancer, diabetes, immune dysfunction, obesity and reproductive
problems.
In 2005, all restaurants in California went trans fat free
voluntarily. In 2008, the US government made it mandatory. The following year,
even New York banned trans fat. Scientists say an increase of 5 gm of trans fat
a day is equivalent to a 25% increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Shockingly, say CSE researchers, even while Indian food
regulators have accepted trans fat as a serious health concern, they are
delaying setting the standard, presumably under pressure from the edible oil
industry. As a result, India has no regulation to check the content of trans fat
in oil.
In 2004, the Health Ministry’s oils and fats sub-committee,
under the Central Committee for Food Standards, begun discussions on a standard
for trans fat. In January 2008, the sub-committee forwarded its recommendations
to the Central Committee for Standards. But the Central Committee is still
awaiting more data and information.
(Source : The Times of India, 4-2-2009)
