Thursday, January 15, 2009

Trans Fat in 3 in 1 Coffee or Milk Tea

I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I opened a newly bought bag of 3 in 1 Taiwan milk tea that was manufactured in Singapore. One packet of this has 0.7g of trans fat! I didn't check the label because it never occur to me that milk tea has trans fat. I quickly looked through the ingredients list and the culprit came from the non-daily creamer used. I was at a shock because I just spent $5 for it and I didn't know whether I should throw it away or just have one packet of milk tea per day until it finished and never to buy it again or double check the ingredients list of this product in the future. I beat myself for not checking the ingredients list. Is it safe to consume 0.7g of trans fat a day? Okay, perhaps that was too much, probably two packets per week (by the way, I have a very good total cholesterol level and optimal LDL reading). Of course I quickly threw away the non-daily creamer in my pantry, luckily I only used this when I ran out of milk. Guess it is all come down to this, back to basic! Eat from nature (vegetable, wild-caught fishes, meat, etc), drink from the fresh (milk, cream, etc), and avoid processed food as much as possible. Now I can see the importance of organic food because certain fresh food is still minimally processed unless it is certified as organic. We never know how many years down the road that the scientist will discover something new again.

Okay, before I lost my focus, the thing I wanted to say is go check the ingredients list on your favorite 3 in 1 coffee, 3 in 1 tek tarik or milk tea.
So that next time you can buy other brand that has no non-daily creamer (mom, sis, go check yours too!). I know how we love to drink from the 3 in 1, so I want you to be aware of this too. I love the 3 in 1 coffee because I can never make my instant coffee taste as good as 3 in 1. Of course I quickly checked my 3 in 1 coffee made in Vietnam, I like 3 in 1 Vietnamese coffee because I found it less sweet. Luckily it didn't say it has trans fat in the label and on the ingredients list, it said creamer instead of non-daily creamer. Can I assume creamer has no trans fat because it didn't make from partially hydrogenated oil? Anyone knows?

Imagine all these years when trans fat has not been discovered, people were delighted at the invention of shortening, margarine and non-daily creamer that have low saturated fat that were supposed to be good for us (heart healthy they said). And now all these are considered bad because they were made from hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil that has trans fat that is more lethal than saturated fat. So, all these years we have been eating food that was made with trans fat but not knowing it. Now we have the mean to know and thus should take precaution especially people with high cholesterol and/or coronary heart disease.

7 comments:

Bits said...

Wow! Tks for the info... I think I should have stop drinking 3 in 1 and switch to 2 in 1 instead.

Noob Cook said...

I never checked the ingredients list of anything =O but maybe it's about time I do :P

Little Corner of Mine said...

2 in 1 is a great idea, just add our fresh milk would do. I will look out for 2 in 1 coffee after I finished my 3 in 1. Not sure whether they sell 2 in 1 Vietnamese coffee or not, even here I hardly see 2 in 1 coffee.

Noobcook, you better start paying attention. I always look and found out a lot of things I couldn't eat. Even that, I still miss some once in a while. :P

Cookie said...

I have been wanting to ask this question and it seemed apt in this post: Crisco claims zero transfat on their label. Should I trust that?

I would like to use less butter just as I use less egg in my daily bake, but to do so, I need to have alternative.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Cookie,
Check the ingredients list, if it has partially hydrogenated oil, then it has trans fat. Just that the amount is less than 0.5g per serving so they can claim it as zero trans fat. Some manufacturers lower the serving amount so that it's below 0.5g per serving, thus they can put zero trans fat on their labels. I don't buy shortening at all, it's scary to me when stuff looking like butter can be stored at room-temperature without melting and spoil on the shelf for so long.

Cookie, make more yogurt cake then. Or make more cakes/cookies that uses canola oil. Canola oil is low in saturated fat, no trans fat and high in monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat, even has omega 3. Occasionally indulge in butter, find a recipe with less eggs, should be fine right? To me, this is better than the scary shortening.

Anonymous said...

TRANSFAT

THE MOST DEADLY FOOD TOXIN
WHICH CANNOT BE DISCHARGED FROM THE BODY


US FDA
BANNED TRANSFAT
long Long LONG AGO


On 1st APRIL 2019
THAILAND
LEAD THE ASEAN
AS THE FIRST MEMBER
TO BAN TRANSFAT


SINGAPORE 4TH GENERATION
IS STILL VERY BLURRRR
COMPROMISING SINGAPOREANS' HEALTH
FOCUSING ON GDP BONUS INCENTIVE ? ? ? ?


THAILAND
IS
THE ONLY TRUE FIRST CITIZEN-CARING GOVERNMENT
IN THE WHOLE OF ASEAN

Anonymous said...

ALL
3 IN 1
ARE TOXIC

MUST BE BANNED
IMMEDIATELY