| |
|
| |
UPDATE: Sign the petition to allow full-fat milk in school tuckshops! (click here)
This site is devoted to making New Zealanders realise that natural fats are also part of healthy nutrition, and just as processed carbohydrates are devoid of essential nutrition and can be bad for you, so too are processed oils a major health risk.
Many decades of bad science have led us to believe that we should avoid saturated fats at all cost. To this end, we have been avoiding natural fats like butter, meat fats and tropical oils and have moved towards highly processed oils derived from soybeans, corn, canola, grapeseeds and many more.
This site aims to be a resource to New Zealanders to help them identify what foods contain hydrogenated fats and hence trans-fats, to help them become aware of the dangers of hydrogenated oils in New Zealand's foods, restaurants and take-aways outlets. While it is nearly impossible to know how much trans-fat is being consumed in New Zealand, this site aims to give at least an initial estimate in the hope that it will encourage more research into this.
With evidence that trans-fats are common in New Zealand diets we can lobby the New Zealand health authorities to act on this issue.
Mandatory labelling of trans-fats now exists in the US, however the advice given to consumers by the US Food and Drug Administration is extremely poor, inviting consumers to consider trans fats as no worse than saturated fats!
Do not be fooled! natural saturated fats are good, trans-fats (man-made) are bad. There is no comparison, and they should never be weighed up together gram for gram. Adding the trans-fat percentage to the saturated fat level is bad nutrition just as it is bad algebra.
A better sum to do is the trans-fat to saturated fat quota, as it is at least based on the observation that trans-fats have a greater effect on consumers who eat less saturated fat.
So if you need some maths practice then use the trans-fat danger index as total *hydrogenated trans fat percentage divided by saturated fat level.
Below is an example of a nutritional label with fat levels:
 In the sample here, the trans fat danger index is 1.5/1.0 = 1.5 which is extremely high!
The cholesterol amount may be ignored, but assuming the product is natural, cholesterol should be considered healthy. If the product contains skim milk, then the cholesterol may be oxidised, then we should be avoiding this.
* - most trans-fat is from hydrogenated oils, see About Trans-Fats, however natural trans-fats occur in low levels in butter and meat fats.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current Poll Results
|
|
The milk I consume most is: |
Naturalea 4% unhomogenised (
12 %)
|
Farmhouse (4%) unhomogenised (
6 %)
|
Standard (3.3%) homogenised (
8 %)
|
Low Fat Milk Homogenised (
26 %)
|
Real Farm Milk - non pasteurised (
48 %)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Email To A Friend
 Print This Page
|
|
|
