I noted with interest the Prime Minister's offer of 20 per cent discount on flour, rice and oil with the stated intention of "making it easier for people to afford healthier food for their families."
Healthier food? Polyunsaturated soybean oil? Wheat (flour) and white rice?
As science is increasingly showing, eating wheat increases the potential for a surprising number of health problems. Chief among them is the destruction of gut (bowel) flora. As Dr William Davis, author of Wheat Belly, says: After all, our unwitting bowels are the primary means through which we ingest this thing (wheat) that annoys, erodes, irritates and generally wreaks havoc on our health. The gastrointestinal tract, probably more than any other organ system, is the unhappy recipient of most of wheat's destructive properties.
The problem is that modern wheat is nothing like the wheat from long ago. Those in the know refer to it as "frankenwheat." So removing wheat, in all its forms, from your diet is one of the best things you can do for your health. We will talk about wheat another time but, today, I want to talk about oil, in particular, polyunsaturated oils like soybean, corn and canola.
Without getting too technical, polyunsaturated fats/oils are linked by two or more pairs of double bonds and, therefore, lack four or more hydrogen atoms. This structure is unstable and wreaks havoc on the cells in our bodies. It contributes to oxidation and free radical damage in the body. Free radical damage to the skin causes wrinkles and premature ageing. Free radical damage to the tissues and organs sets the stage for tumours. Free radical damage in the blood vessels initiates the buildup of plaque.
These oils cannot withstand exposure to heat when used for cooking, but they are still the main choice for restaurants and fast food joints because they are cheap and the claim "cooked in vegetable oil" sounds healthier to customers. The truth is that cooking with these oils turns them rancid, making them even more dangerous when consumed. So while the food you may order at a restaurant may, by itself, be healthy, it may be hazardous to your health depending on which oil was used in its preparation. It's a good idea to ask the chef what oil they are using.
Excess consumption of polyunsaturated oils has been shown to contribute to a large number of disease conditions including increased cancer and heart disease; immune system dysfunction; damage to the liver, reproductive organs and lungs; digestive disorders; depressed learning ability; impaired growth; and weight gain. (I have all the academic references, including articles published in The Lancet, the world's leading medical journal.)
So which oil should we use for cooking? There's only one really healthy choice–the one our grandparents knew about–coconut oil. It is high in saturated fats, which are very stable. This is a benefit, not a problem as some may have been led to believe. The notion that saturated fats are bad for you has long since been discredited. That notion was put forward due to some pseudo-science initiated by Ancel Keys and was part of a campaign by the vegetable oil industry in the United States to convince people to stop using coconut oil.
It is now generally accepted that coconut oil is the healthiest oil on the planet. Many people I speak with say they know coconut oil is the best but it is too expensive. So if the government really wants to make it easier for people to afford healthier food, it should do whatever is necessary to make coconut oil as cheap as possible. Removing the 40 per cent duty would be a good start. The well-to-do can afford coconut oil, but by keeping the exorbitant duty, the government is denying the poor man access to one of the healthiest products he can have in his kitchen.
Noel Kalicharan,
via e-mail
