oatcakes

another one for Jude (this time because there's no comments on her blog boo also because it's a pet rant of mine hurrah). Oatcakes are good for you? Hmmm ...

They are made from oats, which are Good. They are also made from palm oil, which is Not So Good. It's high in saturated fat - nearly 50%. Take a look at the small print on the oatcakes packet. Oatcakes are 17.7% fat, of which 7.5% is saturated fat. Each little oatcake is worth one whole WW point.

I love oatcakes, they are completely delish. I just don't understand why they have to be made with tropical palm oil (hardly a traditional Scottish highland ingredient, after all). It may or may not be because it's cheap and helps products last a long time on the supermarket shelves.

Palm oil (more chemically similar to beef tallow than to traditional vegetable oils, and called by some "tree lard") is one of those ingredients that helps food manufaturers provide the western diet with cheap, calorie-dense foods. Greg Critser discusses its impact in Fat Land: How Americans became the fattest people in the world

You may also want to take care when buying cooking oils. After his heart attack, R saw a dietician and was advised to avoid those labelled just as 'vegetable oil'. They could include tropical oils such as palm, with a high saturated fat content. We always go for 'named' oils like sunflower. And olive (extra-virgin), natch.

A whole other issue is that there are concerns about the ecological impact of palm oil plantations

OK, end of rant.