Scientific Understanding of Trans Fatty Acids

Date: 2023-Apr-23 Source:China Quality Daily View: 178

Recently, the World Health Organization stated that "trans fatty acids have no known benefit and pose significant health risks", renewing its call to "eliminate" trans fatty acids from foods as soon as possible.

Main source

1 Natural sources

Found in the meat and dairy products of ruminants such as cattle, sheep and camels.

2 Processing sources

One is partial hydrogenation of saturated fatty acids (vegetable oils), resulting in semi-solid, spreadable fats;

The second is the high temperature processing of liquid oils for a long time (such as the refining and deodorization of vegetable oils), and the use of excessively high temperature oil (such as over 220°C) to fry for a long time.

Hazard

According to the WHO, excessive intake of trans fatty acids is one of the factors related to the risk of cardiovascular disease. If the daily intake of trans fatty acids exceeds 1% (about 2.2 g) of total dietary energy in adults, it may be harmful to health.

Current situation in China

Dietary intake of trans fatty acids is low in China at present

The elimination of trans fatty acids from processing sources is an inevitable trend of food industry development. China has taken a series of measures:

l A national scientific research project has been developed to replace partially hydrogenated fats and reduce the production of trans fatty acids in vegetable oil refining;

l Continuously improve fats and food production processes to reduce the production and use of trans fatty acids;

l Push to reduce the use of trans fat (acid) through national food safety standards;

l China carried out risk assessment of dietary intake of trans fatty acids, and the results showed that the risk was controllable.

Source: China Quality Daily

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