Ghee; A toxic edible-The Frontier Post [Archive] By Waqar Hussain

The statistical data regarding the number of deaths by various diseases reveals that CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) is number one killer in the world today. Now the question arises what is the cause of CHD? Are the scientists totally helpless in countering this malady? Answer to such questions needs to he written as there are many factors responsible for CHD Let us focus on one of the biggest causes of C.H.D i.e. Banaspati Ghee. First we discuss the health hazard created by the impurities of ghee. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are now customarily used in our country in a variety of foods. Fats and oil are usually classed as one of the basic food material along with protein and carbohydrate. Whether of animal, vegetable or marine origin fat and oil represent the richest source of energy man consumes as food. Hydrogenation is simply "hardening" of oil This process is accomplished by treating unsaturated fatty acid (oils) with hydro-gen in presence of catalyst to convert it into saturated fatty acid. The catalyst used is a critical element for hydrogenation process. Nickel (Ni) is the usual catalyst employed almost exclusively for the hydrogenation of vegetable oil. A catalyst is normally used several times although its percentage is increased slightly for each re-use to compensate for decrease in its activity. Recovery of the catalyst from hydrogenated oil is very Essential because even its minute concentration in the final product leads not only to un-economic operation but also creates health hazards'. Recent advances in food toxicology have proved that nickel is severely toxic both for man and animal. The ill effects of excessive nickel intake are now well established. The major sicknesses associated with excessive nickel intake may include cardiovascular disease, nervous disorder, jaundice, miscarriage, respiratory tract neoplasia, carcinogenic effects etc.

The common complaint against the vanaspati ghee industry is that nickel catalyst employed for hydrogenation in the form of nickel format is not fully recovered. This unrecovered nickel remaining in the final product badly effects the health of consumers. The world Health Organization (WHO) recommended 2.U.G. of nickel per 10.gm of ghee as a safe upper limn for human consumption: The scientists planned a research pro-sleet to investigate the effect of various factors on the recovery of nickel catalyst from vegetable ghee. Different factors (Including the catalyst, the filter cloth and type and quality of oil) were studied comparatively in order to determine their effect on the recovery of nickel catalyst from hydrogenated oil. Studies prove that the quality of nickel catalyst.. and filter cloth as well as quality and type of oil all play a major role during hydrogenation and the final filtration process. The scrap nickel used with the fresh nickel catalyst in varying ratios during hydrogenation result in excessive nickel in the final product (due to in-creased fatigue of catalyst) and thus further reduce the particle size. Phosphatides and certain other compounds present in vegetable oil also effect nickel recovery. Similarly quality of filter cloth can badly effect • nickel level in find product. The interesting thing to note is that in the recent past there has been a mushroom growth of vanaspati ghee industry. The owner of these units earned mil-lions of rupees by using low quality imported palmstearine, which is unfit for human consumption, for manufacturing of vanaspati ghee after mixing it vith soya-bean and cottonseed oil. Efforts should be made at government level to keep prices of re-fined vegetable oil under strict control and much lower than those of vanaspati ghee so people start using these refined edible oils as cooking medium. Refined

sunflower, soyabean and corn oil available in Pakistan are best for human consumption. It is strongly recommended for establishment of a quality and price control department to monitor the quality and price of food. It is not possible to create a new department, the work of monitoring may be 'entrusted to any present department which has a network at district level and linked with industrial units. Now we come to the other point the poisonous deposit of ghee in the body. The use of vegetable ghee increase cholesterol level in the blood. Cholesterol are organic compounds, containing sterol ring. Our liver also produces cholesterol. It is a rich source of energy. It forms coating on the outer part of body above the hones and beneath the skin and acts a buffer and safeguard our body against mechanical shock. It acts as a precursor of other steroid required in metabolism: notably the bile acids, sex har-mones and adrenocortical hor-mones. It causes heart attack and in some time sudden death. In the past, man used to work from dawn to dusk. Means of transportation were not available. He has to do lot of manual work. Now everything is replaced by machinery the work of hours is completed within minutes with less labour. Man is facilitated to greater extent. Ad contrary he has not reduced his diet. The excessive diet deposits in the body and causes trouble. Man becomes fat and obesity is directly proportional to C.H.D. Fat deposits interfere in natural working of body. They block the vessels and cause many diseases. From the above discussion it is inferred that fat deposits are fatal for human life. On the other hand we are taking a bulk of fat in the shape of vanaspati ghee. It is time to check our diet and replace ghee with cooking oil (Refined) which is free from fat and nickel impurity. 

WAQAR HUSSAIN,

 Lahore.