The Food Drug Administration [FDA] recently published a final rule requiring manufacturers to list trans fatty acids, or trans fat, on the Nutrition Facts panel of conventional foods and some dietary supplements. This will help consumers make healthier food choices that could lower their intake of trans fat as part of a heart-healthy diet.
This final rule requires manufacturers of conventional foods and some dietary supplements to list trans fat on a separate line, immediately under saturated fat on the nutrition label. Dietary supplement manufacturers must also list trans fat on the Supplement Facts panel when their products contain reportable amounts (0.5 gram or more) of trans fat per serving. Examples of dietary supplements with trans fat are energy and nutrition bars. The FDA made this decision based on scientific reports, expert panels, and studies from the Institute of Medicine/National Academies of Science, the National Cholesterol Education Program/NIH, and DHHS and USDA (Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2000). These reports concluded that consumption of trans fat contributes to increased LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, which increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Food manufacturers have until January 1, 2006 to list trans fat on the nutrition label. This phase-in period minimizes the need for multiple labeling changes, allows small businesses to use current label inventories, and provides economic savings. FDA expects that, now that the final rule has been put forward, many food producers will begin providing trans-fat information on the product label much sooner. FDA estimates that by 3 years after the effective date, trans fat labeling would prevent from 600 to 1,200 cases of CHD and 250-500 deaths each year. The FDA, while requiring manufacturers to put the amount of trans fats on nutrition labels, will not require a % daily value (DV) for trans fat because there is not enough information at this time to establish a such a value. Food labels do offer such information about saturated fats.
What Exactly Are Trans Fats?
Trans fatty acids or trans fats are formed when manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats. Think shortening and hard margarine. Manufacturers create trans fats via a process called hydrogenation, a process by which vegetable oils are converted to solid fats simply by adding hydrogen atoms. All fatty acids are chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. With trans fats, hydrogen atoms are on opposite sides of the chain of carbon atoms at the carbon-carbon double bond. Trans means across in Latin, thus trans fats.
Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods. Indeed, trans fats can be found in a laundry list of foods including vegetable shortening, margarine, crackers (even healthy sounding ones!), cereals, candies, baked goods, cookies, granola bars, chips, snack foods, salad dressings, fats, fried foods and many other processed foods. Trans fatty acids are found naturally in small quantities in some foods including beef, pork, lamb, butter and milk, but most trans fatty acids in the diet come from hydrogenated foods.
Where Did Trans Fats Come From?
Trans fats were developed during the backlash against saturated fat - the artery-clogging animal fats found in butter, cream and meats. Then food manufacturers realized that trans fats lasted longer than butter without going rancid. The result: Today trans fats are found in 40% of the products on your supermarket shelves.
What Do Trans Fats Do Inside the Body?
Like saturated or animal fats, trans fats contribute to clogged arteries. Clogged arteries are a sign of heart disease; they increase your risk of both heart attack and stroke. Here's how it works: Trans fats raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol levels. This contributes to the build up of fatty plaque in arteries. T rans fats increase LDL cholesterol levels and may increase blood levels of two other artery-clogging compounds -- a fat-protein particle called lipoprotein(a) and blood fats called triglycerides. Equally worrisome, population studies indicate that trans fats may increase the risk of diabetes.
How Do Trans Fats Compare to Saturated Fats?
Trans fatty acids raise (bad) LDL cholesterol levels slightly less than do saturated fats, but saturated fats also raise levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) or "good" cholesterol, and trans fatty acids don't. Thus, trans fats may be worse.
The FDA estimates that Americans aged 20 and older consume 5.8 grams of trans fats per day -- that's about 2.6% of our daily calories. By comparison, we consume 4 to 5 times more saturated fat per day. About 40% of our trans fat intake comes from cakes, cookies, cracker, pies and bread, while 17% comes from margarine. See related article.
Using the Trans Fat label information
FDA and other health experts advise consumers to keep their intake of saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet. For the first time, consumers will now be able to compare foods by looking at the Nutrition Facts panel and know how much of all three components – saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol – are in the foods they choose. This additional label information will help consumers make heart-healthy food choices that help reduce their risk of coronary heart disease, one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. today.
Consumers can reduce the amount of trans fat in their diets by limiting foods that contain “partially hydrogenated” vegetable oils that are found in some margarines, shortenings, crackers, candies, baked goods, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, salad dressings, and other processed foods. Good sources of heart-healthy alternatives include monounsaturated fats (like olive and canola oils) and polyunsaturated fats (such as soybean, corn, sunflower oils and foods like nuts and fish).
For more information, check out the Food and Drug Administration
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