Fast food awash with'worst'kind of fat

　　By Andy Coghlan 尹锡荣/译

　　Nuggets from two major global fast-food chains contain very high levels of artery-clogging “trans”fats, researchers warn. And the level of trans-fats served by the chains varies dramatically from country to country.

　　Researchers who analysed the fast food say that daily consumption of 5 grams or more of trans fats raises the risk of heart attack by 25%. Half of the 43 “large”-sized fast food meals, 24 from McDonald’s and 19 from KFC, examined in the study — purchased in outlets around the world — exceeded the 5 gram level.

　　Trans fats are thought to pose a hazard by raising the proportion of “bad” cholesterol in the blood, leading to the build-up of fat in arteries. Trans fats also increase the risk of arterial inflammation and the development of an irregular heartbeat.

　　Some combinations of “large” fries and “large” chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets contained between double and five times the 5-gram danger level.

　　Industrial-grade oil

　　“Consuming such food regularly could drastically increase someone’s risk of a heart attack, but the fast food companies could solve the problem by changing the industrial-grade oil they use to prepare the foods,”says Steen Stender of the Gentofte University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.

　　“The good thing about trans fatty acids is that it’s easy to remove them,” notes Stender. “When you enter a McDonald’s or a KFC, you should be entering a trans-fatty-acid-free zone,” he adds.

　　Peak levels

　　The fats are convenient for the fast food industry because they can be used repeatedly to fry foods at high temperatures without breaking down chemically. But manufacture of the industrial-grade cooking oils vastly increases the proportion of trans fats in the oil, from zero to as much as 60%.

　　In Stender’s analysis, the fries and nuggets containing the most trans fat had invariably been cooked in oil that was itself high in fat.

　　The highest levels of all were found in a meal from a KFC in Hungary which contained 25 g of trans fats, and had been cooked in oil containing 35% trans fats. Levels were also high in KFC meals bought from Poland (20 g), Peru (16 g) and the Czech Republic (15 g).

　　The highest-scoring McDonald’s meal was from New York, US (10 grams), cooked in oil containing 23% trans fats.

　　Corporate public relations

　　Both companies say they are committed to phasing out the trans fats from their cooking oils. “We’re at the early stages of reviewing alternative oils options, which includes looking at local taste preferences, supply availability, storage, as well as other factors such as functionality,” Christophe Lecureuil of KFC International told New Scientist.

　　“McDonald’s takes the matter of trans fatty acids seriously,” says Catherine Adams, vice president of worldwide quality systems, food safety and nutrition at McDonald’s. “Our reduction in the US is taking longer than anticipated, as we have previously announced. But we continue to progress in our testing and we are determined to get it right for our customers.”

　　Stender found that levels of trans fats were much lower in merchandise from most West European countries, and were virtually undetectable in fries and nuggets from Denmark, where it has been illegal since 1 January 2004 to sell food with levels of trans fats exceeding 2% of the total fat in a food product. “It took less than three months for the industry to remove it,” Stender points out.