Supposedly healthy fat has serious consequences: Which chocolate spread should you avoid better

2020-05-15T14:26:02.187Z

Prince roll to tomato soup: palm fat is in more food than expected. This is not only dramatic for the environment - palm fat is even said to be carcinogenic.

Palm oil plantations require a lot of space, which is why tropical rainforest has to give way.
This is largely due to food producers who mix cheap palm fat into products such as sweets, sweet spreads and finished products to make them creamier, cheaper to produce and more durable.
But that doesn't just have catastrophic consequences for the environment: health can also be damaged.

Saturated fatty acids in palm oil as carcinogens?

Palm oil is said to be involved in the development of diabetes and even cancer, as reported by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Palm fat is a vegetable fat, but like animal fats, it contains a large amount of saturated fatty acids that can negatively affect blood lipid levels. Anyone who cooks with palm fat or consumes products containing palm oil increases the risk of developing diabetes . The vessels are also damaged by excessive consumption of saturated fatty acids - the risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack or stroke increases.

Video: How to make Nutella yourself

But that's not all: If palm oil is refined, i.e. processed for food production, carcinogenic substances can develop . First and foremost, these are so-called 3-monochloropropanediol fatty acid esters (3-MCPD esters), which are classified by the World Health Organization as potentially carcinogenic. The news portal Focus lists a recommendation from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment for the maximum consumption of 3-MCPD esters: For example, a maximum of 0.8 micrograms per kilogram of body weight should be consumed daily. The problem: children in particular quickly exceed these limits.

You might also be interested in : You should eat these nine substances every day .

Rapeseed oil and linseed oil instead of palm oil: prefer healthy fats

This is why the Bavarian Consumer Advice Center warns against excessive consumption of products containing palm oil. In a child weighing 18 kilograms, the recommended maximum dose of the potentially carcinogenic 3-MCPD ester would be exceeded after only 40 grams of crunchy muesli, 25 grams of chocolate, 25 grams of peas and 48 grams of biscuits. The consumer advice center therefore advises to use palm oil-free products when shopping for food and to prefer healthy fat suppliers when cooking . These include rapeseed oil, linseed oil, hemp oil or walnut oil. These vegetable oils are among the polyunsaturated fatty acids that contain valuable omega-3 fatty acids.