Trans Fats and Sugar Contents of Cakes in Local Market (Abstract)

Centre for Food Safety - Consumer Council Joint Study:
Trans Fats and Sugar Contents of Cakes in Local Market

Excess trans fats (TFA) intakes have been linked to increase risk of coronary heart disease. TFA raises the low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) and reduces the high density lipoprotein (good cholesterol). In addition, excessive intake of sugars is associated with overweight and tooth decay.
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) and the Consumer Council (CC) has conducted a joint study, and tested on the TFA and sugar contents of non-prepackaged cakes commonly available in local market. The study aims to (i) continuously monitor the TFA and sugar contents of non-prepackaged cakes provided locally; (ii) inform the public on the TFA and sugar contents in these cakes to enable consumers to make healthier choices; and (iii) encourage the trade to provide healthier products with less TFA and sugar contents through recipe reformulation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that the daily intake of TFA and free sugars should be less than 1% and 10% of daily energy intake. For a 2,000 kcal diet, one should have less than 2.2g of TFA and 50g of free sugars daily. WHO also stated that industrially produced TFA (IP-TFA) is not part of a healthy diet and has not known health benefits. WHO call on the industry to replace IP-TFA with healthier fats and oils and to eliminate IP-TFA from the global food supply chain, i.e. not exceeding 2 grams per 100 grams of total fat or oil in all foods, without replacement with saturated fat (SFA).

The study covered 100 samples (10 types) of non-prepackaged cakes. They were collected from various local food premises, such as bakery shops, cafés, Hong Kong styled-restaurants, fast food shops and hotels from March to April 2020. These samples were tested for TFA, total fat, SFA and sugar contents by the Food Research Laboratory. In addition, IP-TFA was estimated by making use of the Denmark's deduction method, i.e. excluding TFA from ruminant's meat/milk.

WHO recommends that the IP-TFA per total fat should be less than 2%, and the mean IP-TFA is 0.36% / total fat, which is low in general. There are 96 out of 100 samples have IP-TFA lower than the level 2% / total fat as recommended by WHO. More than half of the samples (55 samples) do not contain IP-TFA.

樣本 Food item		數目 No. of samples	工業生產的反式脂肪平均含量[範圍](佔總脂肪的比例) IP-TFA Mean [Range] (%/total fat)
1.	牛油蛋糕 Butter Cake	10	1.76 [0-4.76]
2.	瑞士卷 Swiss Roll	10	0.87 [0.28-1.61]
3.	鬆餅 Muffin	10	0.38 [0-0.88]
4.	黑森林蛋糕 Dark Forest Cake	10	0.25 [0-0.48]
5.	雪芳蛋糕 Chiffon Cake	10	0.15 [0-0.68]
6.	鮮果忌廉蛋糕 Fresh Fruit Cream Cake	10	0.13 [0-0.43]
7.	栗子蛋糕 Chestnut Cake	10	0.05 [0-0.25]
8.	拿破崙蛋糕 Napoleon Cake	10	0.01 [0-0.05]
9.	千層蛋糕 Mille Crêpe	10	0 [0-0.04]
10.	芒果慕絲蛋糕 Mango Mousse Cake	10	0 [0]
	整體 Overall	100	0.36 [0-4.76]

The mean total fat content in this study is 19g / 100g of food. The top three groups are butter cake, chiffon cake and Swiss roll. No association is found between the total fat and IP-TFA contents.

樣本 Food item		數目 No. of samples	總脂肪平均含量[範圍](克/每100克食物) Total Fat Mean [Range] (g/100g food)
1.	牛油蛋糕 Butter Cake	10	25 [21-31]
2.	雪芳蛋糕 Chiffon Cake	10	23 [13-30]
3.	瑞士卷 Swiss Roll	10	23 [19-28]
4.	拿破崙蛋糕 Napoleon Cake	10	22 [12-48]
5.	千層蛋糕 Mille Crêpe	10	22 [15-26]
6.	鬆餅 Muffin	10	20 [17-22]
7.	栗子蛋糕 Chestnut Cake	10	16 [12-30]
8.	黑森林蛋糕 Dark Forest Cake	10	16 [10-27]
9.	芒果慕絲蛋糕 Mango Mousse Cake	10	13 [4.9-24]
10.	鮮果忌廉蛋糕 Fresh Fruit Cream Cake	10	13 [7.6-21]
	整體 Overall	100	19 [4.9-48]

The mean sugar content is 12.5g / 100g of food. Muffin the highest sugar content, and Mille Crêpe has relatively lower sugar content. In addition, individual cake groups e.g. butter cake, dark forest cake, mango mousse cake and mille crêpe have relatively large variation of sugar contents within the same group relative to other groups, about 7 to 13 difference between the highest and lowest values.

樣本 Food item		數目 No. of samples	糖平均含量[範圍](克/每100克食物) Sugars Mean [Range](g/100g food)
1.	鬆餅 Muffin	10	19.2 [7.9-29]
2.	牛油蛋糕 Butter Cake	10	17 [2.2-29]
3.	瑞士卷 Swiss Roll	10	13.4 [8.4-18]
4.	雪芳蛋糕 Chiffon Cake	10	12.6 [5.3-20]
5.	鮮果忌廉蛋糕 Fresh Fruit Cream Cake	10	11.5 [3.3-19]
6.	栗子蛋糕 Chestnut Cake	10	10.7 [4.3-18]
7.	拿破崙蛋糕 Napoleon Cake	10	10.7 [5.1-13]
8.	芒果慕絲蛋糕 Mango Mousse Cake	10	10.4 [3.1-20]
9.	黑森林蛋糕 Dark Forest Cake	10	9.8 [2.2-19]
10.	千層蛋糕 Mille Crêpe	10	9.7 [2.5-16]
	整體 Overall	100	12.5 [2.2-29]

There are 2 groups and each group contain 10 samples used for comparisons of IP-TFA and sugar contents between this study and previous studies. A decreasing trend is observed in the IP-TFA when comparing the findings of this study with the results of previous studies. The sugar contents generally decrease among samples.

In conclusion, IP-TFA contents are low among cake samples. When comparing with previous studies, IP-TFA contents decrease in cakes, indicating that the trade has used edible fats and oils without containing PHO in cake production. IP-TFA contents of individual samples are relatively high. Regulating PHO in food, the IP-TFA content in food can be further reduced.
Fat is generally present among cake samples. Large sugar content variation are found among different cake groups and within the same cake group. The public should understand cakes contain various sugar levels and to make healthier choice. Sugar contents of some cakes decrease when compared with previous studies, indicating that the trade has made efforts in reducing sugars in cakes.

Refer to the findings of this study to choose cakes with lower fat and sugar contents.
Maintain a balanced and diverse diet, and consider purchasing products with smaller portions, or sharing cakes with others.
Refer to the nutrition labels of packages if the products are prepackaged cake.

Use ingredients without PHO for cake production.
Refer to the latest issue of "Guidance to Replace Industrially-produced Trans Fats in Food" to choose healthier alternatives (e.g. soybean oil, and corn oil), and enquire suppliers for ingredient information.
Refer to "Trade Guidelines for Reducing Sugars and Fats in Foods", and provide more products with lower sugar and fat contents.

December 2020
Risk Assessment Section
Centre for Food Safety
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department