In the month of Ramazan the use of banaspati and cooking oil multiplies manifold as the traditional Pakistani cuisine requires its heavy usage for deep frying. During Ramazan, fried and delicious Pakoras in the Iftari and mouth watering Parathas in the Sehri are two most heavily consumed menu items and in both of them, banaspati happens to be the focal point of their recipes.
In order to stay healthy and enjoy the blessings of Ramazan, we should opt for healthy banaspati, which is Trans Fats Free.
Due to the heavy penetration of cooking shows and health programmes on media people have come to know about Trans Fats and harmful effects, but what they don't know is that what they really are? And how harmful they can get? and how can we, as intelligent consumers, protect ourselves from its harmful effects. Let us try to understand them better.
WHAT ARE TRANS FATS? Trans Fats are the harmful kind of fats, which are created during the process of Hydrogenation. (It is the process of hardening of oil, passing it through Hydrogen, to make it into Banaspati and Margarine). The main difference between normal fats and trans fats is that normal fats become part of the body and trans fats are the bad fats that increase the blood cholesterol level. Which ultimately multiplies and could become a source of heart related problems and attacks.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is the premier health regulatory authority in the United States of America, has become very strict and passed a regulation that by 2006 in USA, all food companies would have to mention the quantity of trans fats in food related items on their packaging. This step is taken in order to beware the consumers of the trans fat content in the food products so that consumers can make an intelligent choice by choosing the products which contain the least quantity of trans fats.
Not only in the USA, but other leading health conscious countries are also following suit and providing more health guidelines to their consumers regarding Trans Fats. These countries include Canada, Denmark and Norway etc. Denmark has gone a step further and from January 2005, it is no longer allowed to sell margarine, other cooking fats and food item containing more than 5 percent trans fats.
It is quite clear that a healthy banaspati is the one which is virtually trans fat free. Luckily in Pakistan, now there are banaspaties available, which are Virtually Trans Fat Free (VTF) in which the content of trans fat is less than 1%.
By using these healthy banaspaties, a consumer can enjoy the aroma and the taste of traditional Pakistani cuisines during Ramazan and still stay healthy since quantum of trans fats is virtually eliminated from these healthy banaspaties. Hence the taste and enjoyment of our traditional Ramazan cuisine is enhanced manifold with the confidence of using the healthiest banaspati.
Finally, a golden advice to all the homemakers - if you want to give the best to your families, you should consider using only VTF banaspaties and look for the VTF logo as now manufacturers provide this benefit and mention it clearly on their packaging. Happy Ramazan to all!
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