Comments on: Jennarator on Hershey’s Switch to Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

By: S.R.

S.R. — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:33:26 +0000

I meant to include this- the health issues associated w/partially-hydrogenated oils are not limited to interference with prostaglandin production. They are associated with increased risk of heart disease, also diabetes and cancer.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=80071

By: S.R.

S.R. — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:21:18 +0000

Dear Jennerator,

The problem is not that Hershey’s has replaced cocoa butter with vegetable oil. The problem is with using partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils.

To create partially-hydrogenated oils, hydrogen is forced into regular vegetable oil at high pressure. This increases the stability of the oil, making it solid at room temperature and increasing the shelf-life. Partially-hydrogenated oils occur only in very small quantities in nature, and there are indications that metabolism of these fats in the human body interferes with the production of prostaglandins

Denmark and Switzerland have effectively banned partially-hydrogenated oils, and other countries are quickly following suit.

Here is a link that describes the differences between saturated, unsaturated, partially-hydrogenated, and fully hydrogenated oils.

http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/trans-fats.html

It may seem like a lot of fuss to be making about vegetable oil, there is more to it than meets the eye- it can be pretty confusing…

By: Jennarator

Jennarator — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:43:42 +0000

I completely agree that vegetable oil is definitely not the same as cocoa butter, just as a candy containing chocolate or “mockolate” is not the same as a chocolate bar. They didn’t mess around with their bars. If you want to discuss mislabeling, I think it’s much worse that Dove labels their bars “heart healthy” for antioxidant content when they make it with alkalized liquor. But, you’re right it is the same war, I just seem to have different peeves.

By: cybele

cybele — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:33:05 +0000

I’m the nutjob that started this whole thing in the press and I have to say that if we let a billion dollar company get away with mislabeling products (yes, mislabeling – I’ve documented instances on my blog along with their inaccurate website), we don’t end up in a very good place. It’s these small erosions that allow the bigger ones to become more prevalent.

While it’s easy to say fat swapping is simple, the comparison of palm oil to cocoa butter is a pretty obvious one when it comes to health and environment.

I completely grant that candy is not a necessity and that there are other better, more responsible confectionery choices out there. But the candy companies can actually be a help in the fight against industrial corn if they were engaged (one of the reasons they’re shifting production outside of the US is sugar subsidies, which are related to corn syrup).

It’s all the same war, just different battlegrounds. We’ll meet in the middle somewhere.

By: Jennarator

Jennarator — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:00:41 +0000

I just mean that we need to pick our battles and replacing one fat for another seems fairly harmless when you compare it to sick cows being forklifted to slaughter and vegetables giving people e. coli. I think that there is a lot wrong with what we eat today. I would say that #2 industrial corn is one of the biggest problems, but I’m sure that others would say something totally different.