The deal with monoglycerides and diglycerides
DEAR DR. ROACH: What is the deal with monoglycerides and diglycerides?
I’ve read that these ingredients are just trans fats in disguise and that they are not considered as fats by the Food and Drug Administration and so are not included in the fat calorie count.
Should I avoid products with these ingredients because of concerns about cholesterol levels?
It’s difficult to find breads or other pastry products without one or both of these listed in the ingredients. — G.W.S.
ANSWER: Mono- and diglycerides are very much like fats, which are chemically triglycerides. They all have a glycerine “backbone” to which one, two or three long chains of fatty acids are attached. Mono- and diglycerides are used in many products as emulsifiers, which help oil and water stay together.
The fatty acids themselves can be saturated (bonded with hydrogen) in “cis-” or in “trans-” — a technical term for which side of the bond the hydrogen goes on — it’s a chemical difference that looks hardly noticeable but makes a big difference in the way the fat affects your body.
Trans-saturated fatty acids (“trans fats” for short) increase the levels of LDL cholesterol (the unhealthy kind) and decrease HDL cholesterol (the good kind) in the blood, and significantly increase the risk of developing blockages in the arteries, even when taken in small amounts (two grams a day is a risk). Foods that contain less than 0.5 grams of trans fat can be labelled as having “0 grams of trans fats,” which makes avoiding them difficult. You have to carefully read ingredient labels.
The dose makes the poison: I recommend minimizing monoand diglycerides, though it is very difficult, as you say, to avoid them completely if you buy commercial breads and pastries (and many other products, too).
You can minimize your consumption by cooking using ingredients you can trust, buying products without them when you can and reducing processed foods overall.
If you do that, a small amount of mono- and diglycerides are unlikely to cause harm.
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