Making Healthy Choices in Ghee and Oil

Eighty five years ago, in India when Vanaspati / Vegetable ghee was introduced for the first time under the Brand name of “DALDA”, it was strongly protested. At that time the Lever Brother company of Europe was selling “DALDA”. People were under the impression that the use of this ghee is injurious to health. At that time in the world, there was no awareness about “Transfat” but the belief of people was right. The manufacturers of “DALDA” were standing on the road with their rekdi and serving people with fried puris free of charge. But the people did not accept “DALDA”. So, the businessmen who wanted to mix it with pure ghee, started purchasing in wholesale stock. Later on those poor people who could not afford pure ghee started buying & eating vegetable “Ghee”.

Today the situation has absolutely changed. Rich people also are using this Vanaspati ghee in cooking. Even if we put total control on the use of Vanaspati ghee, there are number of eating items which are prepared from vegetable ghee to our ignorance. This invites diseases like cancer & makes our hearts weak. Items like chocolates, biscuits, cake, bread, sweets, farsan, khari biscuit, surti ghari, ghee sada khakhara, ice cream, butter etc. are made with the use of Vanaspati ghee. Even after the report of Centre for Science & Environment of Delhi, Central Health Minister, Ambumani Ramdas denied to ban / prevent production & sale of Vanaspati ghee. The reason is that the manufacturers of Vanaspati ghee & the businessmen who import oil give crores of rupees to the political parties.

In India, there is no regulation regarding the proportion of “Transfat”. Denmark has limited this upto 2% which means that the oil or Vanaspati ghee containing more than 2% fat is banned from manufacturing or selling. In the case of India, we should know the proportion of “Transfat”in vegetable ghee, available in the market. As tested by the laboratory of centre for science & Environment “Panghat” vanaspati ghee contains 23.7% “Transfat”. It is found that Raag Vanaspati ghee of Adoni Vilmer Company contains 23.31% “Transfat” & “Gagan” of Amrut Vanaspati contains 14.82% of “Transfat”. 15.9% “Transfat” was present in “Rath” brand of Agrotech foods & 9.4% “Transfat” was present in “DALDA” of Bunge of India. 12.72% in Gemini &13.76% in Jindal had shown the presence of “Transfat”. In short no brand of Vanaspati ghee in India was safe for consumption.

We use various types of oils & ghee in our food. We must know which types of oils are beneficial & which are injurious to health. We know oil & ghee contain fatty acids. These fatty acids are made up of combination of carbon atoms. If there is only one bond between carbon atoms, it is called saturated fatty acid. There are more hydrogen atoms in saturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids is divided in two types. One type which contains a single double bond is known as Mono unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) & the other type which contains more than one double carbon bond, is known as Poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). Mufa contains Omega 9 & PUFA contains Omega 3 & 9. These types of Omega fatty acids contained in MUFA & PUFA are beneficial for our health.

Palm oil contains only small amount of “Transfat” but when Hydrogen gas is passed through to make it Vanaspati ghee, the atoms of fatty acids are transformed into “Transfat”. When Hydrogen gas is passed through unsaturated fatty acid, atoms of hydrogen make the carbon bonds saturated. Partial hydrogenation converts a part of cis-isomers into trans-unsaturated fats instead of hydrogenating them completely. As a result “Transfat” is created. If vegetable oils are totally hydrogenated, it becomes solid substance, which does not contain any “Transfat”. But since the manufacturers of vanaspati ghee want to make a substance which resembles pure ghee, they hydrogenate only partially & “Transfat” is created in this process.

“Transfat” lowers good cholesterol in the body. Even if the intake of “Transfat” through our food is increased by 5gm daily, the possibility of heart attack increases by 25 %. In other words “Transfat” weakens our heart. The work of insulin in digesting sugar in our body is disturbed because of “Transfat” & it causes diabetes. Researchers in France have found that “Transfat” increases risk of causing breast cancer in women. If a pregnant woman takes vanaspati ghee directly or indirectly, its “Transfat” reaches the baby in the uterus and damages it.

While “Trans – fat” is taken in food, the work of enzymes which digest fat is disturbed / stopped, the semi-digested fat is stored in the body and the unhealthy cholesterol generated by them coats the veins with plaques, which causes heart attacks. The normal fat in our food is digested in 18 days but transfat takes 51 days to get digested. So, the work of enzymes, which digest fat is disturbed. Therefore, new vanaspati ghee is considered poisonous.

In the United States of America a voluntary organization namely “Ban Transfat” is founded to fight against the demon of “Transfat”. It taught a strong lesson to fast food giant “Mc Donalds”. In 2002,“Mc Donalds” declared that it will drive out “Transfat” from all its establishments. “Mc Donalds” company failed to keep its promise & so “Ban Transfat” sued against it.

Because of this claim “Mc Donalds” company was compelled to pay 7 hundred thousand dollars as penalty to Heart Association of America & to put boards mentioning that their food items are not free from “Transfat” in all its restaurants. KRAFT Company of America was using “Transfat” in its chocolates. ”Ban Transfat” warned it. So KRAFT company had to stop the use of vanaspati ghee in its chocolates. India also needs such an organization.The Centre for Science & Environment in Delhi published a revealing report & proved that the edible oils available in Indian markets contain dangerous Transfats, which are responsible for cancer, diabetes & heart attacks. In India, the business of hydrogenated vegetable oil is under big businessmen and forms a big powerful lobby. It will take years for the government to ban transfat. Hence it is better for people to avoid voluntarily the use of transfat in fried food available in the market. Only then will our people will be saved from the poisonous effects of transfat. The percentage of Heart attacks in India is dangerously increasing. After knowing all this wouldn't it be wise to avoid vanaspati ghee? Those who wish to keep their heart and health safe, should stay away from “Transfat” as much as possible.