Margarine for Men, Flora advert, 1981

Fat buster

In a world where we are bombarded with often-contradictory health advice it can be difficult to decide what is really good for us.

This guide will slice through the facts and help you identify what fats are ‘good,’ what fats are ‘bad’ and how to interpret the complicated and often confusing food labels.

Fats have joined sugar and salt as the ‘bad’ guys but the truth is that we need fat in our diet. Our bodies and brains depend on the long-chain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, so instead of demonizing all fats we need to make sure we are getting the right ones in the right quantity.

The largest sources of fat in our diets, in order, are: meat and meat products, cereals and cereal products, this includes cakes, biscuits and factory bread. Next up is dairy and dairy products and finally butter and spreads, which make up only one eighth of our total fat consumption.

As Guardian food journalist Felicity Lawrence points out in her book, Eat Your Heart Out, illogically we are concentrating on what we spread on our bread rather than the invisible industrial fats, such as Trans Fats, hidden in our food, which make up a larger percentage of our fat intake.

What is saturated fat?

This fat is generally solid at room temperature and is usually from animal sources. It’s found in lard, butter, hard margarine, cheese and whole milk. It’s also found in anything that contains these ingredients such as cakes, chocolate, biscuits and pastries.

Eating too much saturated fat is associated with increased blood cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.

Government guidelines recommend fats take up no more than 35 per cent of the energy in your diet, saturated fats should be less that 11 percent of this total intake.

What is unsaturated fat?

Unsaturated fat is usually liquid at room temperature and generally comes from vegetable sources. They are a healthier alternative to saturated fat. Unsaturated fat is found in sesame, sunflower, soya and olive oil and in oily fish including mackerel, salmon and pilchards.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are both included in this group. The difference between them boils down to science. Monounsaturated fats, found in olive oil and avocados, contain one double bond in their structures while polyunsaturated fats, found in nuts and seeds, contain two or more double bonds in their structure.

All you need to remember though is that replacing saturated fats and trans fats with these guys may help to protect you against heart disease.

What is hydrogenated fat?

The process of hydrogenation means that food manufacturers can alter the molecular structure to make them more solid and to change their melting point. For example a manufacturer might want a fat for chocolate so it melts in the mouth at the perfect temperature.

Food manufacturers like hydrogenation because it gives food products a longer shelf life and is often cheaper to use.

Hydrogenation involves mixing vegetable oils with a metal catalyst, often nickel, and then heating them up to 200 degrees Celsius.  Hydrogen gas is then forced through the hot oil in a high-pressure reactor. The result are very hard plastic like beads – this process can be stopped halfway through though if a manufacturer wants oils that are still soft but more stable – these are called trans fats or trans fatty acids.

What are  fatty acids or trans fats?

These man made fats are a cause of great concern. Once absorbed into our bodies they wreak havoc. They are found in thousands of processed food from sweets to biscuits and ready meals.

They have been linked with conditions such as heart disease, strokes, obesity and some cancers. According to the Harvard School of Public Health at least 30,000 people and probably more like 100,000 people a year in the USA die prematurely from coronary heart disease as a result of eating trans fats.

They are used because they are cheap, they add bulk, they give products a longer shelf life and they have a neutral flavour. They have no nutritional value.

The food industry is under no obligation to label food as containing trans fats. They are banned in New York, Denmark and Austria and a study for the European Parliament recently recommended that the EU should consider an EU-wide ban.

In July 2010 the UK Government ruled out a ban on trans fats in food as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley decided to reject advice and side with the food industry – who argue a ban is unnecessary. Official watchdogs NICE disagree and have called for a veto on the killer fats.

Lindsey Davies, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, told the Guardian:

“The food industry should be about producing food, and food is a basic requirement of a healthy, productive life and wellbeing. Adding things to food that reduce health and wellbeing, such as transfats or too much salt, strikes me as profoundly irresponsible,”

She added: “Unhealthy food is a major health problem in this country.”

The Food and Drink Federation, which represents major producers and retailers, hit back. Barbara Gallani, its director of food safety and science, said Davies was “out of touch with what the industry has been achieving” in terms of reformulation.

For example, transfats have been virtually eliminated and some firms have cut the amount of salt in products such as soups, cereals, biscuits and cakes, in some cases by up to 50%, in the last five years, said Gallani. Such a move would also deny consumers choice in their eating habits,” she added.

What are the supermarkets doing?

Marks and Spencer have led the way among the food retailers, while all major supermarkets have banned the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from their own-label products.

A number of firms, including Mars, McVities and McDonalds have changed their recipes but there are still many fast foods, ready meals, cakes and pastries that contain trans-fats.

How do decipher the labels?

Hydrogenated Fat
If the oil used has been hydrogenated it must be stated on the label. But be careful because some trans fats can be formed during the process of hydrogenation. To be safe steer clear of any foods that contain Hydrogenated fat or oils.

Tans-fats
These do not have to be included on the label. They count as part of the total fat in a product. But as they are not classed as saturates, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated they won’t be included.

Photo credit: Thanks to David Masters.

Find out more

Read:

Felicity Lawrence’s book Eat your heart out has a brilliant chapter on Fats.

Take Action:

UK campaign against trans-fats.

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