Health risks among coffee partners

If you ask what a coffee partner is, most people might say: it's milk that makes coffee white and thick. In fact, if you carefully look at the instructions on the coffee partner, I am afraid you will find that the truth is thousands of miles away. In fact, the "trans fatty acids" contained in it have been recognized by the nutrition community to be harmful to cardiovascular health.

On the front of the coffee companion, there are three small characters: "plant fat powder". What is it? The ingredient reads: the first ingredient is "glucose syrup", that is, something slightly sweet and a little sticky produced by the hydrolysis of starch. The second ingredient is "hydrogenated vegetable oil", a semi-solid oil formed by artificial catalytic hydrogenation of soybean oil or rapeseed oil.

The dangerous "trans fatty acid" is brought about by "hydrogenated vegetable oil". After artificial catalytic hydrogenation, most of the natural unsaturated fatty acids in vegetable oil become saturated fatty acids, and the unsaturated fatty acids may lose their natural "cis structure" and produce unnatural "trans fatty acids".

Because "trans fatty acid" is not a normal ingredient in nature, but an unnatural ingredient formed in the process of artificial modification of natural oils, the human body does not contain it. However, as early as 1981, scientists found that the levels of "trans fatty acids" were abnormally high in the bodies of people who died of coronary heart disease.

In recent years, a number of studies have confirmed that trans fatty acids are very harmful. Like lard and butter, it not only increases serum total cholesterol, serum total fat and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, but also lowers high density lipoprotein cholesterol, the so-called "good cholesterol". And the survey found that the more "trans fatty acids" in the diet, the higher the mortality rate of coronary heart disease. Some new studies have initially shown that trans fatty acids may also increase the incidence of breast cancer and diabetes, and may affect the growth and development of children and the health of the nervous system.

However, with the continuous westernization of diet, this unhealthy "trans fatty acid" has penetrated into the lives of Chinese people. In addition to coffee companions, vegetable cream, ice cream, pastries, butterscotch, cookies and egg rolls in supermarkets may contain hydrogenated vegetable oils. Crispy pastries, Danish bread, Indian cakes and loose "pies" taste unique because of hydrogenated vegetable oil, while fried chicken and French fries in American fast food are crispy because of hydrogenated vegetable oil. Even in the delicious dragon and Phoenix dumplings, it also contains this ingredient!

For the sake of public health, many countries are studying to limit the content of trans fatty acids in food, at least to inform the public that the food contains trans fatty acids. Under the circumstances that our country has not yet responded to this, consumers might as well keep a close eye on food labels. if the list of ingredients is marked with the words "hydrogenated vegetable oil", "plant cream", "plant fat", "margarine", "plant cream", "shortening", "fat powder" and so on, we must be vigilant, because that means that the food contains trans fatty acids.