Re: Health Attributes of Vegan (& kosher) Foods

[Guest guest]

Rodney,

Religious mandates about food, such as vegetarianism, fasting,

forbidden foods, special preparation, etc., are not motivated by

nutritional considerations, but by dogma, faith, and traditions.

Some time ago, I pointed out in my web page on labels that kosher

foods can have hydrogenated fats because they are derived from

vegetable oils:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/labels.html

Since the FDA mandated the disclosure of trans fats in labels,

manufacturers have been switching to vegetable saturated fats which

don't turn rancid easily. Palm kernel oil and coconut oil have 16% to

18% myristic acid which is the most cholesterogenic of the fatty

acids. Butter, by contrast, has only 11% myristic acid.

Tony

> > >

> > >

> > > Hi folks:

> > >

> > > We have some friends who recently became vegans. This is a long

> story

> > > which I will refrain from telling here. For a start they may have

> > > joined for all I know. And might recognize themselves

> > > from my description of them!

> > >

> > > When they came to dinner a couple of weeks ago we made an effort to

> > > serve them vegan foods. One thing we did was go to the leading

> > > supplier of vegan food products in this big city and buy a selection

> of

> > > stuff to serve.

> > >

> > > Two products are of note. We bought three vegan patés. On

> perusing

> > > the ingredient lists long after they had left I see the following:

> > > largest ingredient is water; second largest is palm kernel oil; next

> > > largest ingredient is yeast, which presumably is added in a small

> > > quantity.

> > >

> > > From this it appears these products are essentially palm kernel oil

> (the

> > > absolutely worst stuff second only behind hydrogenated fats) with

> > > enough water added to emulsify it, plus a few flavorings.

> > >

> > > The second product was a vegan ice cream. It is called " Tofutti " no

> > > doubt trying to give the impression it is made from tofu? The

> > > ingredients list says the six largest components are: " water; sugar

> > > [empty calories] ; corn oil [carcinogenic empty fat calories]; corn

> > > syrup [more empty calories, perhaps also carcinogenic?]; soy

> proteins

> > > and tofu [plenty more fat calories]. "

> > >

> > > Seems to me, based on the above, that the study previously posted

> here

> > > which compared the health of vegans with that of health-conscious

> > > omnivores, should also have separated out the health-conscious

> vegans

> > > from the others.

> > >

> > > Little wonder vegans are no healthier, if they think it is fine to

> eat

> > > this kind of stuff, and the leading retailers of it think so too.

> > >

> > > Rodney.

> > >

> >

>