TRANS VS SATURATED FATS

In describing trans fats as “a small problem” and those who impose curbs as being “hysterical”, our local health authorities show that they are totally out of touch with the latest scientific thinking on health.

They continue to focus their attention on saturated fats; they even worry that people who try to avoid trans fats might end up consuming more saturated fats.

Such worries are entirely misplaced. We should, instead, be worrying that people who try to avoid saturated fats end up taking more trans fats!

TRANS VS SATURATED - benefits of saturated fats

Leading experts on fats and oils tell us that saturated fats are beneficial to health in many ways – they preserve the integrity of cell walls, enhance immunity, help calcium absorption, and so on.

TRANS VS SATURATED - a scientific mix-up

More significantly, the experts tell us that scientific research of the past 50 years that ‘prove’ saturated fats to be harmful were all badly mistaken – because none of those studies took into account trans fats.

Researchers were studying people who consumed both saturated fats and trans fats. And they reached the wrong conclusion that saturated fats were the cause of problems like heart disease when trans fats were the real cause.

How can saturated fats be harmful when lard, butter, ghee and coconut oil – all high in saturated fats – have been consumed by humans as the main source of fat for thousands of years, without causing any harm?

TRANS VS SATURATED - dangers compared

More enlightened scientific minds now realise that:

• saturated fats are probably not harmful;
• even if they are harmful, trans fats are many times more deadly;
• no amount of trans fat is safe.

While the World Health Organisation has recommended that trans fat consumption be kept below 1 percent, this is a compromise level. It is not a safe level, certainly not a healthy level.

It is disappointing and worrying that the Health Promotion Board, Singapore Heart Foundation and other health authorities continue to recommend that Singaporeans choose small amounts of trans fats in products such as soft margarine.

TRANS VS SATURATED - deadly poisons vs healthy products

This is telling people to take small amounts of a deadly poison in order to avoid what is, at worst, a mild poison and, at best, a healthy product.

And if soft margarines continue to be labelled “healthier choice” on the basis that they contain lower amounts of trans fats, then low-tar / low-nicotine cigarettes should similarly be labelled “healthier choice”.

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This is the article that sparked the idea for this website.

On 21 December 2006, the Singapore Health Promotion board called a press conference to explain its policy on trans fats. It invited the President of the Singapore Heart Foundation to also speak at the conference.

TRANS VS SATURATED - Singapore government's position

Essentially, the Health Promotion Board and the Singapore Heart Foundation said:

• trans fats is a “small problem” because average Singaporean consumption of trans fats is below the 1 percent level recommended by the World Health Organisation
  
  
• the situation here is not as serious as in, say, the US, where trans fat consumption is much higher
  
  
• hence there is no need to ban trans fats nor impose mandatory food labelling
  
  
• instead, we should be more concerned about saturated fats, since Singaporeans consume more than 11 percent saturated fats in their diet, above the World Health Organisation recommendation of 10 percent
  
  
• banning trans fats would amount to imposing trade barriers.

In addition to the above points, the President of the Singapore Heart Foundation remarked that countries like the US are “a bit hysterical”!

I submitted this article to the "Letters” page of Singapore newspapers on 23 December. Due to the Christmas holidays, it was not published immediately.

While I was wondering if it will ever see the light of day, the idea arose that I should publish this website, STOP TRANS FATS.

Also, there were many other points that I would like to have taken issue with, but cannot do so because the press will not publish letters that are too long. So I felt a website dedicated to trans fat would be needed to address the many issues.

After I wrote the above article, I read in the British campaign against trans fats website that the British health authorities said almost exactly the same things about trans vs saturated fats – except for the part about Americans being hysterical.

The Straits Times, Singapore's largest circulation newspaper, published the above letter on 30 Deecember 2006.

This website officially launches on 1 January 2007.