oneworldtalk

Forget about eating out - home is where the healthy heart is

KELLY BURKE

September 29, 2009

AUSTRALIANS are eating far too much saturated fat because manufacturers rely on cheap, imported palm oil.

The Heart Foundation will tell the World Congress on Oils and Fats in Sydney today that the food industry has run out of excuses for not switching to such healthier alternatives as locally produced canola oil, with 8 per cent saturated fat compared with 55 per cent in palm oil.

People were buying healthier oils for home cooking but too few manufacturers and food outlets were following suit, the foundation's national director of healthy weight, Susan Anderson, said. ''They say it's a cost issue, but it is also costing Australians their health.''

Of particular concern was the amount of ''invisible'' fat, which Australians consumed at restaurants and food outlets beyond the reach of labelling laws.

''We've become so particular in the supermarket but when we eat out we have no idea what our food is being cooked in,'' Ms Anderson said. ''There is a lack of transparency into what's going into a lot of our food.''

McDonald's, Unilever and Goodman Fielder switched voluntarily to healthier oils but a steady increase in the amount of imported palm oil, from 113,000 tonnes in 2003 to 130,000 tonnes in 2007, showed the industry as a whole was resisting change.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand says saturated fats and trans fatty acids together should not exceed 10 per cent of the daily energy intake but Australians were on average consuming about 1½ times that amount.

But the food regulator has resisted mandatory labelling of trans fat and it rejected a proposal that would have compelled manufacturers to disclose the presence of palm oil in products. (It is often labelled generically as vegetable oil.)

The regulator said it rejected the proposal because it had been made in response to concerns about the destruction of native rainforests as a result of palm oil production. It said it was not required to respond to environmental issues and suggested consumers contact manufacturers to determine the source of vegetable oil.

Traditionally, potato chips, rice crackers, and even French fries have been fried in rice bran oil throughout various Asian countries, such as Japan.

The fatty acid composition of rice bran oil and peanut oil are similar and either oil works well at a high temperature, however, while peanut oil has an earthy flavor, rice bran oil is nutty, enhancing the flavor of fried foods. In addition, rice bran oil gives an ideal color and desirable texture to all types of fried foods.

Since Rice Bran Oil contains three different kinds of natural antioxidants -- namely Tocopherol, Tocotrienol, and Oryzanol -- some of the major antioxidant companies have recently switched their basic oil to rice bran oil. This movement shows that the industry leaders recognize rice bran oil's oxidative stability.

For a long time, there has been a tradition in Japan that women rub rice bran in or put rice bran oil on their face to keep their skin smooth. These women, having smooth and shiny skin, are called "Nuka-Bijin" ("Bran Beauty" in English).