TORONTO – In their zeal to rid the world of trans fats, governments around the world have inadvertently driven up levels of another heart attack fat in certain foods, says a vegetable oil supplier.
Canola and palm oil have benefited the most from legislation restricting trans fat levels in restaurant and grocery store foods. Both offer trans fat free alternatives to hydrogenated soybean oil.
Canola has made its biggest strides in the restaurant trade while palm is replacing hydrogenated soybean oil in baking and pre-packaged goods that require solid oils.
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“Palm is really the only alternative today for that,” said Paul Brisebois, assistant vice-president of marketing and sales for Richardson Oilseeds Ltd.
The problem is that palm oil contains the highest level of saturated fats of any vegetable oil. Fifty-one percent of its dietary fat is saturated, which is more than seven times the levels found in canola oil.
“You may see the zero grams of trans fat on the label but if you’re not looking at that label really closely, the thing could be jacked up on saturated fats,” said Brisebois.
Diets high in saturated fat have been linked to increased incidence of coronary heart disease. That is the disease governments are trying to reduce by enforcing trans fat bans and restrictions.
It sounds like a perfect opportunity for canola oil, which contains no trans fats and seven percent saturated fats, which is the lowest of all the vegetable oils.
But many bakers and food manufacturers need a solid fat, which can only be found in hydrogenated soybean oil and palm oil.
Brisebois said there needs to be some research and development work at the food processing level to find out if canola can help the food industry reduce the saturated fats in their products while meeting trans fat restrictions.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to process (canola) differently, to blend it with a little bit of palm stocks,” he said.
Meanwhile, the palm industry is starting to spread the word that saturated fats are not as bad as previous medical studies have suggested.
David Jenkins, professor of medicine and nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto, said it depends on body type and lifestyle.
Research has shown that in people who are lean and fit, ingesting saturated fats can boost good cholesterol. For those who are not, it can raise the level of bad cholesterol.
“If you stay fit, you can get away with blue murder,” he said.
Brisebois encouraged canola breeders to focus on lowering the saturated fat content of canola oil in the next generation of seeds because that could be the next big battleground for vegetable oils.
One delegate at the conference took issue with that suggestion. He said it’s a waste of resources to reduce saturated fat levels to something like four percent from seven percent since canola already has the lowest levels around.
But Brisebois warned that the U.S. soybean industry is devoting considerable resources to reducing the saturated fat content of the world’s leading oilseed.
“If it gets to the same level as canola we lose a bit of a competitive edge,” he said.
