Regulations on Trans fats
The food industry has been trying to get trans fats out of our foods for a while. In 2006 the new regulations that target trans fats when into affect. Food manufacturers are stripping dangerous trans fats from their products to comply with new labeling regulations. In 2003, the National Academies’ Institute of medicine concluded that the only safe recommendations for trans fat intake is zero. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), these trans fats (Partially hydrogenated oils), have been responsible for thousands of death causing heart-attacks each year, and should be removed from the American food supply since safer alternatives have now become widely available. The major campaign by CSPI was used to encourage food manufactures to remove trans fats from their products.
Label showing trans fats and saturated fat
Why are trans fats so bad?
Trans fats raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, lower high-density lioprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which may increase triglycerides and inflammations, and have been linked to increased risk of diabetes. It is an unhealthy fat that was started into the world to be an alternative to saturated fat in the mid-1980’s. It is made in a chemical process that converts polyunsaturates into a mixture of trans fatty acids to make a product that is not found in nature. Only 15% or less of all trans fats in products are actually found in nature or animal products. But products started saying that they were free of saturated fats and not listing the trans fats made people believe they were eating healthier. New regulations keep these trans fats on the labels so the consumer knows all that they are still putting into their bodies. With trans fats now being taken back out of products, experts worry that it will just be replaced back with saturated fats.. But Annette Maggi, MS, RD, author and expert on food labeling, believes that the food industry is well tuned into consumer interests in products that are as low as possible in both trans and saturated fats. “Most of the colleagues I have talked to in the food industry have been clear that increasing saturated fat is not an acceptable means to lower trans fats.” One alternative people have been looking into is palm oil, soybean oil and canola oil. The APOC (American palm oil council) has been trying to get the word out about this oil as it has zero trans fats and is rich in antioxidants, tocopherols, and tocotrienols, which are isomers of vitamin E.
Ways of replacing trans fats are also being looked into by mixing hydrogenated and fully hydrogenated oils so there is no room for trans fats. According to Robert Reeves, president of the Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils, Inc., “These are fully hydrogenated fats with no trans fats remaining. By interesterifying this fat mixture, you can alter the arrangements of fatty acids on the glycerin molecule.” Danisco USA developed a product (free of trans fats) that combines emulsifiers with oil to mimic the performance of shortening in most applications. Some company’s and manufacturers are only reducing down the trans fats rather than completely getting rid of them.
Most fast foods and chain company restaurants fry their foods in trans fat oils. Ruby Tuesdays is among one restaurant that is using trans free fat oils. One of the problems with removing these fats is these company’s having loved and favored french fries, etc. for the taste that you can’t just replace with a trans fat free oil and still have that famous taste.
Trans Fat-Free Resource Guide:
References:
TransFree American Campaign Launched. CPIS. May, 18, 2004. Available at: cspinet
Posted under Fats/Oils, Food Talk, Health/Fitness
This post was written by Kimberly Scott on October 27, 2008
