HEALTH FOR ALL
Controlling your cholesterol
- Published: 3 Jan 2012 at 00.00
- Newspaper section: Life
It is a widely accepted theory that high cholesterol causes heart disease, so many food brands are trying to advertise themselves as "healthy" by adding "cholesterol free" labels on their line of products. But if you look carefully you will see that they are usually products that are not made from animal fat to begin with (all dietary cholesterol comes from animal fat, not vegetable fat), like potato crisps, so the "cholesterol free" label is completely a non-issue; there's no way potato crisps can contain cholesterol unless they are deep-fried in animal fat. Therefore, you should look at the amount of calories in each serving instead.
Saturated fatty acids are known as "bad" fats because they can increase LDL levels. Studies have found that by incorporating 1% of saturated fatty acids into your daily total food intake, LDL levels will increase by 2%. Saturated fatty acids are commonly found in meat, milk and dairy products, as well as some types of vegetable oil, particularly if the food is cooked in it for a long time.
Trans fatty acids (trans fats) are unsaturated fats, which are formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, a process called hydrogenation. Trans fats can also cause LDL levels to increase. They are commonly found in solid margarine, processed snacks and fried menus at fast food restaurants.
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