Monday, May 28, 2007

Stop Using Trans-Fat

Heard of trans-fat? Is it dangerous? What is this all about?
Most of us use the ingredients as it's mention in our recipes and never seem to border so much what is that. After I run my very own ingredient shop called Cooking Island, I have learn alot. What are the danger of certain ingredients and is that advisable to used or not. This is not to say I am so afraid of death but I want to learn more about what we eat to avoid certain dangerous ingredients.
Trans fat is known to increase blood levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, while lowering levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), known as "good" cholesterol. It can also cause major clogging of arteries, type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems, and was found to increase the risk of heart disease. Many food companies use trans fat instead of oil because it reduces cost, extends storage life of products and can improve flavor and texture.
Last year, I registered for a seminar in Singapore when I were there visiting the International Food Exhibition. The seminar is all about baking trend and I should also registered myself for another one which talk about trans-fat. Fine. Since I have missed that, I decided to do some reading and find out more about trans-fat.
Trans-fat is an unsaturated fatty acid. Consuming too much of trans-fat will increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Trans fat is known to increase blood levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, while lowering levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), known as "good" cholesterol. It can also cause major clogging of arteries, type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems, and was found to increase the risk of heart disease. Many food companies use trans fat instead of oil because it reduces cost, extends storage life of products and can improve flavor and texture. Find out more about trans-fat. You can find trans-fat in vegetable shortening, margarine and some frying snacks. I suggest you stop using shortening and margarine in your baking or frying. Switch to pure butter or olive oil. Off course, this is your choice to used whatever you wanted but I am here to share with you what I know. I am not here to promote any butter fats. I don't gain any money for doing this.
It's quite a long story to tell you about trans-fat and if you are interested, do check out from some site
Do you also know that the butter cake that you buy from most bakery are not using pure butter? Majority are using 30%pure butter + 70% margarine. There are bakers who added some butter oil essence in their batter to enhance the flavour. So, it's time we learn to bake our own cakes.

9 comments:

Horny Ang Moh said...

Waah!! so tecnical wan arrr!! To me any tasty food is OK wan.

Anonymous said...

then how ppl gonna to make breads without the shortening?wat's the diff btwn butter and margerine? and how's the baker enhance the flavour of the butter cake without using the oil essence?

erinalaw said...

Horny Ang Moh - Where got technical leh. Good food is nice but at times we need to know what should consume more and what should be less lor.

Anoymous - What is the purpose of putting shortening in the bread? For making it soft, rite? Change it to butter. Better smell also. Pure butter is animal fats and margerine is vegetables fat. Use pure butter in your cakes lor...... there are lots of good brand mah such as Anchor, SCS and lots more.

Rabbit said...

Huh? So deep deep one? *scratch head*

Ooo! I didnt know u have an ingredient shop. =P

erinalaw said...

Rabbit - where got deep leh??? Hehehe..... yup,I own a baking ingredient shop in penang mah.

King's wife said...

I watched an episode of Oprah a few weeks ago, and they dicussed this as well. Another thing to stay away from are products with enriched 'this and that'. Hope I didn't hear wrongly. I always thought enriched means better.

Anonymous said...

is the cake flour, superfine flour, supersoft flour and the hong kong flour the same? or wat's the diff?
thanks.

erinalaw said...

King's Wife - at times, if you consume a little bit is ok lar. I think so. If damn healthy also got problem keh............., rite?

Anonymous - all are different. Cake flour is a mixture of some flours. Superfine is high ratio flour. Hong Kong is Pau flour.......

Anonymous said...

so is it cake flour is supersoft flour or low protein flour?
thanks