Interview med læge Steen Stender

Tim Hinman: I starten af 00’erne var Stender meget interesseret i statistik om hjertesygdomme.

Steen Stender: Og så begyndte jeg at se på hjertestatistik. Så så jeg på, hvor har vi den højeste hjertedødelighed i verden. Og det er centralasiatiske lande. De 15 post-sovjetiske republikker. Kasakhstan og Kirgisistan og hvad de hedder.

Tim Hinman: Først skulle Steen rejse til alle de lande med dårlig hjertestatistik for at efterforske, hvor meget transfedt der var i det mad, som folk spiste. Han skulle i ledtog med sin kone, som han tog med, komme i gang med at købe en hel masse kager for at finde ud af det. Men hans arbejde med at indsamle kager og kiks i eks-sovjetiske supermarkeder kunne nogle gange virke suspekt.

Steen Stender: Der var en der modtog os i lufthavnen og kørte os til hotellet. Og det var nok noget hemmeligt politi, vil jeg tro. Så aftalte vi, at næste morgen kl. 9 kom han efter os, og så skulle vi ind i sådan et turistprogram, vi skulle ud og se nogle heste, og vi skulle se en helligdom og så videre, og så sagde jeg ”my favourite interest is supermarkets”. Og så kørte vi hen til et supermarked. Så sidder jeg og venter her. Og så var vi tre timer inde i supermarkedet. Jeg fandt jo 50, 60, 100 produkter! Og kagehylder der altså var 10 meter lange og fem forskellige hylder. I den ene ende startede jeg, og i den anden ende startede min kone med forstørrelsesglas og en lille seddel, hvor der stod på russisk hvad hydrogeneret fedt hed, og det tog sådan en tre-fire timer at komme sådan en hylde igennem, og så mødtes vi på midten og købte varerne og kom ud med de der poser og tog hjem med dem. Og så rejser vi afsted med kufferterne fulde af de der kiks og kager. Resultaterne viste jo også, at de var smækfulde af transfedt.

Interview with the doctor Steen Stender

Tim Hinman: In the beginning of the 00’s Stender was very interested in statistics on heart disease.

Steen Stender: And then I started looking at heart statistics. I looked at where in the world we have the highest mortality from heart diseases. That is in central Asian countries. The 15 post-Soviet republics. Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan, and what else one calls them.

Tim Hinman: Firstly, Steen had to travel to all the countries with poor heart statistics in order to investigate how much trans fat was in the food that people were eating. In cahoots with his wife, whom he had brought along, he had to get started on buying a whole lot of cakes in order to find out. However, his work collecting cakes and biscuits in ex-Soviet supermarkets could seem suspect at times.

Steen Stender: There was a guy who received us at the airport and drove us to the hotel. And that was probably some secret police, I guess. We agreed that he would come pick us up the next morning for us to join some sort of tourist programme. We were going to see some horses and we were going to see a sanctuary and so on, and then I said “my favourite interest is supermarkets”. Then we drove to a supermarket. And then I’ll sit here and wait. And then we were in the supermarket for three hours. I found 50, 60, 100 products! And the shelves with cakes; they were 10 metres long with five different shelves. I started in one end and in the other end my wife would start with a magnifying glass and a small note that said what hydrogenated fat was called in Russian. Then it took three or four hours to get through such a shelf and we would meet halfway, buy the goods and then we came out with those grocery bags and brought them home. Then we travelled on with our suitcases filled with biscuits and cakes. The results showed that they were filled to the brim with trans fats.