South Africa’s traditional dishes are known for their zest, colour, diversity and great taste. And when the range includes mouth-watering curries, stews, vegetable bakes, braaied meat, sosaties, boboties and cottage pies, for many there’s nothing better than a home-cooked meal.
But a survey by the Heart and Stroke Foundation has found that, while the country’s food may be rich in flavour, many dishes are not as healthy as one would think. Bad cooking habits have resulted in many developing heart disease and hypertension, and having strokes.
Preliminary findings of the national study by the foundation in partnership with the Medical Research Council (MRC) and a generic supplier, Pharma Dynamics, show that South Africans prepare their food with lots of salt, fat and sugar.
The lack of proper planning when preparing lunchtime snacks and dinners was cited by many as the reason for consuming junk food that is salty and high in fat.
While initial findings raised a red flag about the use of excessive oil seasoned salts and too much sugar, researchers also raised concerns about the use of sauces, marinades, unhealthy salad dressings and mayonnaise, syrups and use of processed meats such as viennas, bacon and polony in already protein-rich dishes.
In order to improve people’s cooking habits, and in an attempt to address the increasing incidence of cardiovascular disease, researchers have since asked people, particularly those in poorer communities, to submit their favourite family recipes for revision
Heleen Meyer, a nutritionist from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said the idea behind the project was to compile a recipe book called Cooking from the Heart, which would offer healthier alternatives based on recipes that were submitted.
The recipes will be adapted by dieticians at the foundation, without compromising the original recipe.
Meanwhile, Meyer said there were already known bad cooking habits that could be immediately replaced with healthier alternatives. These included the sweetening of vegetable dishes with sugar and syrup instead of just boiling vegetables, retaining the fat on meat when cooking stews instead of using lean meat and using soups to thicken instead of healthier options such as corn or cake flour.
The deep frying of vegetables was also a problem, along with the use of salty stock cubes instead of herbs.
“We have also seen a lot of people adding salty ingredients like chips and flavoured salty biscuits as the crust or topping to baked dishes, instead of breadcrumbs and chopped parsley,” Meyer said.
Adding fresh cream to desserts, and use of jellies and instant puddings also raised some flags for nutritionists, who suggested that fresh fruit could be just as good.
The book, which is to be freely distributed in poorer communities as a cooking tool, should be ready in September.
Mariska Fouche, public affairs manager at Pharma Dynamics, said the aim of the project was to test a resource package for primary health-care providers and community health-care workers to enable them to offer behavioural change counselling to communities.
Dr Vash Mungal-Singh, CEO of the Health and Stroke Foundation, said the country was facing a major health crisis with the rate of heart diseases among the poor reaching epidemic levels.
“If cardiovascular diseases continue to rise among the poor at current rates, the treatment costs and complications associated with the disease will soon begin to impact heavily on the South African taxpayer,” she said.
She ascribed the dramatic rise to the adoption of a more Westernised diet.”Combine this with a lifestyle that is increasingly physically inactive, add high alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking to the mix, and you create a scenario that opens the floodgates to hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and the resultant increased risk of heart attacks and stroke,” she said.
Tips for healthy cooking
Helen Meyer a nutritionist from the Heart and Stroke Foundation suggests:
* For the steweing of 750g of meat, use only one or two table spoons of oil to fry two onions.
* Use dried or fresh herbs instead of seasoned salts.
* Boil vegetables in a little water and season with nutmeg or cinnamon, instead of using cheese, cream, sugar or syrup.
* Thicken stews with cornflour or cake flour instead of using soups that are high in salt.
* Bake veggies and snacks instead of deep-frying.
* Remove all visible fat from meat before cooking instead of using fatty cuts for stews.
* Use fresh fruit for desserts instead of jellies and instant puddings.
WHAT NEW LABEL LAWS MEAN
New food packaging and labelling regulations are making it easier for people to buy and eat smart.
The Department of Health implemented the regulations recently.
Nutritionist Megan Perry is pleased. “People have started to use terms such as healthy, wholesome and nutritious to attract markets… many items are misleading, they make statements like these which are in fact not true.
“The new laws are in the best interests of consumers.”
Toni Smyth, a dietitian, warned that consumers need to watch the new labels.
“Buy products with unsaturated fat as opposed to saturated fat, look for vegetable oils rather than other types, and buy products high in fibre and complex carbohydrates.
“With the new labels it’s easier to make informed decisions.”
Eitan Stern, who runs the consumer watch group eLabel, said there were still a few things to look out for, including a loophole in the regulations which allows producers to call fruit juice that contains ingredients other than pure fruit “100% pure fruit juice”.
The office of the national consumer commissioner said consumers who see products or distributors that are not in line with the new regulations may lodge complaints with it.
The new labels apply to all food sold, both foreign and domestic, but only food packaged from the beginning of this month. – Michael Engelmann
NEW REGULATIONS
What to look for and what you will miss:
REQUIRED
* Nutrient analysis – in table form per 100g/ml
* Name and address of either manufacturer, or importer or distributor.
* Country of origin.
* Net content.
* Batch identification.
* Best-before dates.
* Portion nutrient analysis, if nutritional claims are made.
* Ingredients listed by mass.
BANNED:
Descriptive words including but not limited to:
* Nutritious
* Healthy
* Healthful
* Wholesome
* Complete nutrition
* Balanced nutrition
* Sugar free and fat free, if specific labelling conditions are not met. - The Star