For the first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to completely ban an ingredient to ensure the health of consumers. Used primarily in the agri-food industry, industrial trans fatty acids should logically disappear from our plates by 2023. But what are these molecules so harmful to our body?

Trans fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids. They can be of natural or artificial origin. According ANSES (National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Labor), they are naturally created by bacteria that live in the stomach of ruminants, such as cows or sheep, and arrive in the fats of these animals. They are few and lodge in meat, milk and dairy products.

Present in margarine and pizzas

But these "natural" fatty acids are not really a problem for WHO. Those who are disturbed undergo industrial processes of synthesis, like that of the hydrogenation of vegetable oils. The unsaturated fats are then transformed into saturated fats .

In the early twentieth century, trans fatty acids replaced the addition of butter - which then has a bad reputation - in food products. Today, they are used as preservatives in many industrial foods . They are found in margarine and clarified butter, but also in salted or sweet biscuits, bread, chocolate bars, pizzas, quiches, dehydrated soups, etc.

To identify them on the labels, it is advisable to check the terms "hydrogenated vegetable oils" or "partially hydrogenated".

Fatty acids "murderous"

If they are present in many products that we consume on a daily basis, industrial trans fatty acids would be "chemical, toxic, useless and deadly," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, former Obama administration and current Resolve to Save CEO. Lives. "There is no reason for the inhabitants of the planet to continue to be exposed to it."

Trans fatty acids promote bad cholesterol to good cholesterol. And they are dangerous. According to the WHO, 500,000 people die from cardiovascular diseases linked to the consumption of these trans-fatty acids each year. A figure that should soon fall.

Before they are completely banned, WHO "recommends that total trans fat intake be limited to less than 1% of total energy intake, or less than 2.2 grams per day for a 2000 calorie diet. ". You will not take pizza again.