Great links as usual.

Really like the piece on saturated fats. Need to thank the author for a up-to-date “literature review”!

Thanks for yet another round of great links. The palm oil link is interesting. I’ve been trying to find out whether Carotino oil is as healthy as it is promoted as being, and if so, whether it is actually grown in a sustainable way…because it really is a great tasting oil!

I’m drooling over those white bean toasts. Great links, kathryn!

Hello, Kathryn.

I’m taking a brief mid-morning break, rewarding myself for 2 hours of focused working & reading through your excellent Quicklinks.

Well done again! You’ve given us a carefully curated sampling of what we need for healthy eating: research, recipes, and facts to help make sustainable choices.

I’d already marked Sophie’s recipes as ones to try, plus the Lentil, Goat Cheese & Parsley salad in AHK. Wendy’s version looks lovely.

Thanks to you for highlighting & Sophie for finding the saturated fat link. Yes, there has been some confusion about this topic. It’s helpful to have this article to clarify what is fact, what is myth and what we still don’t know.

I hadn’t thought of checking the WWF for resources on sustainable eating but I’m going to do so.

I’ve just checked the Canadian Food & Drug Regulations for labelling products with palm oil. (For those who want to look up the information, it’s section 9 in the document f: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/C.R.C.-c.870/page-1.html#anchorbo-ga:l_B-gb:l_9) Palm oil is not specifically listed so I’m going to do a bit more investigating. Thanks for making me question this.

I haven’t forgotten the competition. How fun & how delicious. I’m hoping to do a variation of the frittata (Spring AHK) if I can feed a key, fresh, ingredient this weekend.

Hi again. Just adding for your Canadian readers some info on palm oil labeling regulations:

In general, when [an oil] is used as an ingredient in another food, it may be listed in the list of ingredients either specifically by name, e.g., “canola oil”, or as “vegetable oil”. There are two exceptions, however: if the oil is an ingredient of a cooking oil, salad oil or table oil, the oil must be specifically named in the ingredient list, e.g., “canola oil”, and the general term “vegetable oil” is not acceptable (B.09.010); if the vegetable oil is coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, peanut oil or cocoa butter, the oil must be specifically named in the ingredient list, and the general term “vegetable oil” is not acceptable (B.01.010. (3)(b) Item 1). (11/May/92)

reference: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/decisions/fatgrae.shtml

Thanks all.

Rhonda – it’s hard to assess how good Carotino oil is at the moment. While there’s a lot of marketing stuff on their website, I can’t find any nutritional information. I’m always quite suspicious of these “new” foods that pop up, loudly proclaiming their nutritional status, as invariably they’re okay, but nowhere near as good as the marketing makes out. Vitamin A, vitamin E and lycopene all appear in other foods, so it’s not as though Carotino is the only source of these nutrients.

Being a big fan of variety as a fundamental principle of good nutrition my general belief is that this applies to oils as well. There’s no one oil that is the best. Instead it’s through varying your food sources, including the fats you eat, that you get optimal nutrition.

Environmentally I see they have signed up to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), but at the moment that does not necessarily signify they’re using sustainable sources. As the WWF report highlights, producers can sign up to the RSPO and then delay actually doing anything about purchasing palm oil from sustainable sources.

I’ve just emailed them asking for a copy of their nutritional information, so I’ll report back when that comes through.

Elaine, thank you so much for your in-depth response and also for finding out that extra information about the Canadian labelling laws. It’s always interesting to hear what is happening in other countries.

As far as I’m aware the use of palm oil in food products is relatively new here in Australia and it’s not on many peoples’ health radar – yet.

Thanks for the link about the palm oil scorecard. It’s scary to hear of even more things that are produced in a non-sustainable way.

Thanks for linking to my calcium recipes Kathryn – glad you like them.

I’ve just been having a look around UK palm oil legislation. There doesn’t seem to be any, and I hadn’t realised until now that palm oil can be listed as vegetable oil on food labels in the UK. Only a few supermarkets are starting to label more clearly and highlight where sustainable sources are used.

Hi there Sophie, maybe the UK branch of the World Wildlife Fund might be running a similar campaign? Or they may have an idea on its use and prevalence?