The study * by the Food Quality Observatory (Oqali) measured the impact of reformulating the recipes of more than 14,000 agri-food products. Main lesson: the progress of manufacturers remains far below the objectives of the National Health Nutrition Plan (PNNS 2). This program recommends in particular limiting the consumption of added fats and favoring vegetable fats, but not just any: rapeseed oil, olive or walnut oil are largely preferable to palm oils, sunflower, corn and copra, of which the nutritional value is low.
Problem, if half of the products studied by the Observatory (7,207) contain at least one vegetable fat, it is not the best vegetable fats that are preferred.
In addition, many food labels do not specify what vegetable fat it is. However, many processed products contain poor quality lipids. Among these, Palm oil : 34% of products contain it. It was mainly found in industrial cookies and cakes, cereal bars and chewable appetizers. However, we know that palm oil is not recommended by nutrition experts because too rich in saturated fatty acids, bad for our arteries.
The study also points out that 19% of products contain sunflower oil, which is found mainly in frozen pizzas and hot sauces. 11% of the products contain coconut oil, mainly found in ice cream.
Rapeseed oil, on the other hand, concerns 29% of industrial foods studied, and is mainly found in fresh processed products.
And olive oil, despite its recognized health benefits, is one of the most shunned vegetable fats since it only accounts for 9% of the products analyzed by the study.
The National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) recommends consuming 35 to 40% of lipids in the daily energy intake, ie 75 to 88 g (for a daily consumption of 2,000 cal per day). It also encourages diversify the intake of vegetable and animal fats(omega 3 from fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring or sardines).
* The entire study is detailed in the report Study of ingredients – Oqali – Edition 2012.
