Baked goods like cakes, muffins and cookies, pizza and other pies, deep-fried foods like french fries, breaded chicken and donuts, processed foods like hotdogs and bacon – they are all yummy and satisfy our hunger pangs. But they also raise our bad cholesterol and eventually increase our risk of having heart disease.
These kinds of food are not only loaded with carbohydrates, salt and sugar, but also with trans-fatty acids. These unsaturated fatty acids are being industrially produced to add texture and taste and lengthen the shelf-life of food. They are made when hydrogen is added to unsaturated oils, which then become partially hydrogenated oils or PHO.
Margarine and some cooking oil that we have in the market are made with PHOs as well. So even if you cook your food at home, you might still get these trans-fatty acids from the oil that you cook your food with or the spread that you use on your bread.
In the “Usapang Puso sa Puso” of the Philippine Heart Association last May 23, 2023 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City, Atty. Mikhail Millan, Manager of the Trans Fat Elimination Project of ImagineLaw, said that trans fat intake increases the risk of contracting coronary heart disease by as much as 21%, and of dying from cardiovascular disease by 28%.
Dr. Divine Agustin, OIC-Division Chief of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Department of Health, said that coronary heart disease, which is a type of cardiovascular disease, is still the leading cause of death in the Philippines. Even during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, heart disease was still number one in taking the lives of the Filipinos. Annually, 100, 000 Filipinos die of heart disease.
Consumption of trans-fat laden food can also cause obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and stroke.
The public interest group ImagineLaw has been pushing for the complete ban of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids and front-labeling of products so consumers can instantly see what’s in the can or the pouches of the food that they buy. These actions can greatly help in the improvement of the health of consumers.
The group said that they are close to victory when the Department of Health issued Administrative Order 2021-0039 and the Food and Drug Administration released Circular Number 2021028 which both seek to eliminate industrially-produced trans-fats in the Philippine food supply by June 18, 2023.
In the House of Representatives, House Bill 4737 authored by Congressman Luis Raymund Villafuerte and others, which is entitled “An Act to Protect Filipinos from the Harmful Effects of Trans-Fatty Acids,” has already passed.
But banning industrially-produced trans-fatty acids is not the only way to protect our heart. There are also naturally-occurring trans-fats in ruminant animals like the cows, goats, sheep, and dairy products like milk and cheese. So it’s important that we eat only a moderate amount of these food products and consume more vegetables and fruits. We also need to read nutrition facts and labels. Avoid food which contain partially hydrogenated oils, replace these saturated and trans fats with healthy oils like olive, canola, soybean, corn and sunflower oil, noting that these should also be used in moderation. It is also important to exercise everyday, even for just 30 minutes to one hour.
Scientific evidence shows that partially hydrogenated oils, which are used to produce trans fats, are not generally recognized as safe for use in food. Consume, and you’re doomed.
