09:12 PM
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
At a time when many people are keen to eat ready-made meals in restaurants, which are usually rich in oils and fats, there are many restaurant owners manipulating the health of citizens who crave these foods, such as shawarma, hawawshi, hamburgers, and others, by adding a large amount of fat instead of meat and giving flavor to the food, which Those who eat these meals may be at risk of developing chronic diseases, the most dangerous of which is cancer.
In this context, Dr. Sayed Hammad, a nutrition consultant at the National Institute of Nutrition, revealed that the manipulation of some restaurant owners by adding fat to foods or as a substitute for meat may cause many health risks, explaining that the first of these risks is obesity.
He added to “Masrawy” that these fats contain high calories, and they are twice as high as protein fats, and therefore when we get fat in a large amount, the calories will increase dramatically, which affects weight and its increase.
The nutrition consultant also stated that the fats that come from animal sources are always saturated fats and are linked to bad and harmful cholesterol levels in the body, and thus will cause a higher cholesterol level than normal.
He pointed out that these fats may also cause heart disease problems, pointing out that they may be linked to the appearance or production of some types of trans fats, and thus in the long run have a negative impact on the general immunity of the body and the possibility of developing some problems and cancerous tumors.
He noted that the consumption of these foods, even if it is at intervals or repeatedly, will have a great impact on causing obesity, in addition to the problems of heart disease in its various forms, such as atherosclerosis.
As for the percentage of fat that should be added to the food, the nutrition consultant explained that each person has an average daily calorie intake, which he gets from three sources, which are carbohydrates, proteins and fats, indicating that the healthy percentage of fat in meals ranges between 20 to 30% of the daily calories. Total calories, provided that a third of that percentage, i.e. 10%, is from saturated fats and from animal sources, i.e. the fat that is placed.
He noted that most of these foods are added to a large number of artificial enhancers and colors and different flavoring products, stressing that all of them are things that should not be eaten continuously, in light of their high fat content, as well as cooking methods by exposing them to direct heat and burning parts of them during preparation, such as shawarma, which leads to Formation of hydrocarbons that negatively affect the immune status of the body and lead to cancerous tumors and health problems.
And about the method by which food made of fat or meat is discovered, Dr. Ahmed Al-Bandari, director of the scientific center at the General Syndicate of Veterinarians, explains that it is difficult to differentiate between them except through feeding, as some people tend to eat foods full of fat and others not, which is according to the tendency everyone.
He added to “Masrawy” that the only way through which a high percentage of fat can be detected is in laboratories, not individuals, by measuring the percentage of fat, noting that some restaurant owners add soy sauce as a substitute for the taste of meat, other than adding onions and vegetables to give more volume. for sandwich or meal.