Green Drink Reviews

Zero Plus Zero Equals Four…or Don’t Trust Trans Fat Labelling

Canadian Law allows up to 2g of Trans fat per serving to be labeled as Zero Trans Fat

Do you ever wonder who creates these food laws and how they get written up? They end up being so confusing that most consumers would never be able to figure them out. One law refers to the second condition in paragraph 3 of another law, which applies when a third law is not in effect…it’s a nightmare of double-speak that appears to be designed with confusion as its principal goal.

Take the Canadian regulations on declarations of Trans fat. It is now law in Canada that food packagers list the Trans fats contained in a product under the Fats heading in the nutritional value table on their labels.

Good idea, you say? Well it would be if the definition of zero were obvious (last I checked, zero meant nothing or zilch). But it turns out that labels can claim zero Trans fat if:

1. the product contains less than 1/2 gram of Trans fat per serving, or…
2. the sum of Trans fats and all other saturated fats combined is 2 grams or less.

Wait a minute! What’s that second option all about? It means that if there are no saturated fats in the product, then the product can have up to 2 grams of Trans fat and still qualify as a “zero trans fat” food.

Now lets look at the real world and how this works out. A “serving size” of butter or margarine is generally one tablespoon, which is 14 grams. If margarine makers substitute all of their saturated fats for Trans fat, then they can have up to 2 grams of Trans fat per serving, or 2g in every 14g of margarine. That makes the product as much as 14% Trans fat…a far cry from zero in anyone’s book.

A serving of Ritz crackers is five crackers. That’s 16 grams, or a potential of 12.5% Trans fat in their “zero trans fat” product.

It’s clear that when laws are drawn up to protect consumers, the lawmakers are adept at turning any good idea into a benefit for the large food and drug manufacturers. The bottom line? Don’t trust the labels. If you see a product with partially hydrogenated oils, do your arteries a favor…steer clear.

December 8th, 2006

Do Big Soda Makers Hear Customers’ Concerns for Better Health?

Coca-Cola introduces a natural “high” while Pepsi hopes to get your “calm” dollars
Following a trend in consumer health consciousness, extracts from natural ingredients are finding their way into mainstream beverage products by the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Both companies, however, are refraining from calling their products “natural” or from even using the names of the plant sources of their “healthy” ingredients. Are they responding to customer cries for healthier products, or are they just after those dollars lost to the energy drink makers?

What’s your best guess?

The Coca-Cola Company will introduce a product made with green tea extract, called Enviga, that they claim helps burn calories. What it most certainly does is boost your energy, metabolism and heart rate. By combining green tea extract with caffeine and sugar, company scientists claim that the drink helps increase metabolism and burn energy faster–most likely, the energy that comes directly from the sugar content of the beverage. Will it make you thin? Unlikely. Is it better for you than Coke? Probably.

Rather than add yet another energy drink to the market, PepsiCo hopes to cash in on the “calm” market, offering their new beverage to stress-concerned adults. The beverage, called NutriSoda, contains an ingredient derived from Ashwaganda, an Ayurvedic herb used for centuries in India for calming the nervous system, increasing male libido (are they cashing in on the Viagra market too?), and reducing cholesterol. The processed Ashwaganda is being called Essentra, and may find its way into other foods and beverages before too long.

Is this a sign of a more healthy future, where big processed food manufacturers are crafting products according to public demands? Or are these just gimmicks for cashing in on big money markets with pseudo health products?

As natural health finds its way into the mainstream, these are the questions we will undoubtedly continue to ask ourselves. Here’s another: How much should good health cost?

November 22nd, 2006

Trans-Fatty Acids: There’s no Debate

Margarine producers would love for you to think that the butter vs. margarine debate is still alive and well. But the debate was over some time ago. The discovery of trans fatty acids in margarine (which coat your arteries with fat deposits) delivered the final blow. Even if you once thought it was worth eating a semi-plastic hydrogenated oil (and all the poinsonous yellow dye added to it to mask its normally dark color) in order to save a whopping 3 grams of fat per tablespoon over butter, it should now be clear that since 2 of those 5 grams of fat in margarine are trans fats (responsible for all kinds of horrible stoppages in the body), you’re better off just getting the flavor and fat of butter.

But the margarine chemists have now come out with “zero-trans-fat margarine.” What up with that? Should we go back to eating soft plastic? Well, not if you consider how they achieve the zero mark for their labels. In short, they dilute the hydrogenated oil with water or liquid oil, thus reducing the amount of trans fats per tablespoon. If you were to dilute your butter with olive oil in the same way, you could reduce its percentage of saturated fat per tablespoon too. And keep the taste.

But here. Let’s just remove ourselves from this debate with the following all-natural, great tasting butter substitute. Ok, it doesn’t taste exactly like butter, but give it a chance. You might actually prefer it to butter after you get over your butter withdrawal.

Flaxseed Butter Substitute
1/2 cup flaxseed oil
1/8 cup brewer’s yeast flakes
1/4 cup lecithin granules
1/2 teaspoon honey

Mix the yeast in a spice grinder or coffee grinder until it turns to a powder, then stir it into the flaxseed oil and lecithin. Mix in honey. Use as a spread, just like butter. It works especially well on steemed veggies (cabbage, mmmm!). Store in the refrigerator.

NOTE: If you don’t like the taste of flaxseed oil, experiment with walnut and sesame oils — perhaps mixed with olive oil.

1 comment September 17th, 2006