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Is Bread, damaging your Heart ?

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Dr Pete Njoku, MD, FRCS, FRSM Eng.
Young African bread hawker


     Many of us eat bread or other baked goods everyday. Many food producers use Margarine as the source of fat in their baking recipe because it is cheap and has a long shelf life.

In this article I shall examine the effects of eating margarine based bread regularly and the effect on heart health.  I shall also highlight healthy alternatives.

Margarine was developed in the United States during World War II when there was a shortage of butter. 

Food processors discovered that they could heat an oil such as vegetable oil, which was readily available and inexpensive, and pump liquid hydrogen through it to form a “hydrogenated” oil that was solid at room temperature.  

Hydrogenation changes a fatty acid's molecular structure and turns a portion of it into the trans form. Biochemists call these Trans-fats. 

The Daily Mail of England on 7/2/13, described margarine as "chemical gunk".

Heart and Coronary disease

Research shows the people who eat the most margarine, whether in or on their bread or in foods like cookies and pies, have a higher risk of heart disease.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study on the relationship between women’s fat intake and the risk of heart disease. 

The study, conducted by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital over a 14 year period, studied more than 80,000 individuals who had no history of coronary disease, stroke, cancer, high cholesterol or diabetes.

The study found that a “higher dietary intake of saturated fat and trans-fat was associated with an increased risk of coronary disease, whereas a higher intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like olive, canola, sunflower oils was associated with a decreased risk. 

The researchers concluded that replacing saturated and trans-fats with un-hydrogenated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats is more effective in preventing heart disease in women than reducing overall fat intake.

Another study indicated that trans-fats rich Margarines, raise LDL cholesterol to even higher levels and increase the risk of coronary heart disease.  

Margarine lowers HDL, the good cholesterol.
Heart and coronary artery disease  which includes hypertension, which predisposes to chronic kidney failure, cardiac arrest, stroke, and heart failure. 

These are the leading causes of death in the Western World and the Gulf states like Brunei and Qatar. 

It is now a significant public health concern in developing countries like Mexico, Nigeria and India.

Breast cancer

At least one study has linked breast cancer risk with high levels of trans-fatty acids in adipose tissue.

What to do?

Bake your own bread or get your bread from your local margarine-free bakery.  

My advice is you replace the margarine in your bread recipe with vegetable, soya or olive oil. Replace the margarine with equal amounts of a liquid fat.

Canola oil has a mild, neutral flavor that works well with many types of bread, including sweeter loaves. 

Olive oil in flat breads, pizza crusts or garlic and herb breads. Olive and canola oil are both heart-healthy choices. Whole meal flour is preferable to white flour.

Heart-friendly rankings of fats

Olive, Canola, Sunflower oils          - Best

Butter                                                    - Good

Margarine, trans-fat rich                   - Bad

There are now newer softer margarine brands that are low in trans-fats. Please read the label and look out for "<1% Trans-fat".

If you don't bake your own bread as most of us, do find out what type of fat was used in your favourite bread recipe.

Please guard your heart jealously because you just have one. The best cure always for heart disease is prevention.

Thanks for being here and goodluck on your journey to wellness. i invite you to check out other articles that may interest you using the search button at the top of the page. God-isLove.


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