‘Idli’s and ‘Dosa’s come out winners!
According to this news article, a new research concludes that the ‘bathura’s and the ‘paratha’s are more bad for you than the French fries.
*The trans-fatty acids (hydrogenated oils and fats) in French fries (per 100 gm) is 4.2%-6.1%, it is 9.5% in bhatura, 7.8% in paratha and 7.6% each in puri and tikkis.
The findings reveal that the presence of trans-fatty acids in Indian food such as bhatura, paratha, is much higher than the quint-essential “junk” foods and apparently pose a risk for development of diabetes and coronary heart disease in the early 20s and 30s. The good news, however, is that the South Indian snacks of idli-dosa have won hands down in the ‘fat-battle’. They find the protein and carbohydrates, while a morning breakfast of idli-sambar-chiku and coffee had 9.3% protein content in it, the dosa-chutney-papaya-tea had 6.7% proteins.
Doctors, nutritionists and dietitians spelt out the urgent need to ban food with trans-fat content specially because India is home to the highest number of diabetics.
“French fries and dishes made of hydrogenated fat (upto 45% of fat), baked items (biscuits, rusks upto 30% and margarine (upto 15%) are rich in industrial sources of trans-fats,” said B Sivakumar, former director of National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. But health experts were unanimous on one count. Ban the vanaspati, which has high TFA content.
A couple of years ago when my father-in-law had a by-pass operation, my husband noticed that a lot of people in their 30s and 40s were there for bypass surgeries as well. And a lot of them, apparently, were not obese, did not look unhealthy, and you would have never guessed that their arteries were clogged! And there is no need to wonder at the no. of diabetic Indians. Diabetes, while it is taken for granted, is a killer disease. Anyway, so my advice? Stick to idlis and dosas. ![]()
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Filed under: idli, bathura, dosa, french fries, times of india, paratha, trans-fatty acids, food, diabetes, heart, heart dieases, India
