Bagels, like Bread, are the foundation of healthy eating.
They join bread, cereal, rice and pasta as foods in the Grain
Products food group, which forms the basis of a well balanced
diet. Prepared with enriched flour, Canadian Grain Products
provide several essential nutrients which perform a number
of important bodily functions:
Iron – builds red blood cells which carry
oxygen in the blood and help prevent fatigue
Protein – used
in the growth and repair of body tissues
Dietary Fibre – promotes
regularity
Carbohydrate – supplies energy; assists
in the utilization of fat by the body’s cells and
organs.
Why No Trans Fats?
You will notice all our bagels are free of trans fats. Wellness
Bagels have a very important exclusion from their ingredients
list – trans fats. Trans fats are made from partially
solidified vegetable oils and are also called hydrogenated
vegetable oil or fat. In the 1980s, when saturated and animal
fats were health enemy number one, trans fats became the
popular alternative, particularly in pre-packaged food. Food
manufacturers saw huge benefit in the switch, as trans fats
were, at the time, regarded as a superior alternative to
animal and saturated fats. Further, trans fats are relatively
cheaper and extend a product’s shelf life.
Trans fats are now proven to be more detrimental to health
than saturated fat. Studies have shown that trans fats raise
the bodies bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower the good cholesterol
(HDL), and diets high in trans fats have been linked to heart
disease. Dr Walter Willet of the Harvard School of Public
Health points out:
“ We know that people who consume high amounts
of trans fats in a diet, the arteries become more rigid and
that has been
related to the risk of cardiovascular disease particularly
heart disease.”
A Health Canada report published in 1998 showed that Canadians
eat between 8 and 39 grams of trans fats a day, much higher
than that consumed in other countries. One factor in this
statistic is that much of the processed food produced and
sold in Canada has been prepared from a type of vegetable
oil that results in a high amount of trans fat when it is
hydrogenated. While most Canadian food manufacturers are
now reducing or removing trans fats from their products,
Wellness baked goods have always been, and always will be,
trans fat free.
The Goodness of Wellness
Canadians are advised to immediately reduce the level of
trans fats in their diets, a very compelling reason for the
researchers at Wellness Bread to develop new foods that contain
the goodness of fruit and grains, are high in dietary fibre
and iron, and exclude dangerous trans fats. Check the labels
of our:
