June 2017 www.womanthismonth.com LIFESTYLE | wellbeing 48 Food fads, they’ve been around for a long while now. Every so often, new super foods are ushered in and old staples are unceremoniously denounced. But what’s really good for us and what’s just the latest hype? Preeti Karunakar, dietician at Middle East Hospital, gives us some straight answers. Should we eat this, that or neither? Behnaz Sanjana takes a look at the most common food myths and gets expert thoughts to some pertinent questions. Food Truths Preeti says that butter, a dietary staple for centuries, is made by churning the fatty portion of cows’ milk. Margarine, on the other hand, is a highly processed food that was invented as a supposedly healthier option to butter. Its primary ingredient is vegetable oil, along with emulsifiers, colourants and various artificial ingredients. She continues: “Margarine is made with vegetable oil, when it is liquid at room temperature. To give it a harder consistency and shelf life, it is hydrogenated. Hydrogenation turns some of the vegetable oils into trans fats. As a general rule, the harder the margarine, the more trans fat it contains.” You’ll realise the pros and cons of margarine, as Preeti explains it. “As it is processed from vegetable fat, it contains mono and poly unsaturated fats, which help lower one’s total and LDL cholesterol in the short term. But, if it is hydrogenated [as many brands in the market are], the trans fats in it are far more dangerous than natural, saturated butter.” Most margarines contain little or no cholesterol and people often worry about the amount of cholesterol found in butter, animal products, coconut oil and palm oil. But she brings us good news: “Recent research shows that the body creates cholesterol in much larger amounts than what you eat. Cholesterol in food does not necessarily affect your blood cholesterol levels. As a result, having a measured quantity of one tablespoon of butter, which is a natural product, does less harm than having processed foods, which we need to rule out from our daily diet.” Trans fats (a.k.a partially hydrogenated oil) raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol levels. They hide in baked goodies – cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers – and increase your risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. BUTTER VS MARGARINE
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