FDA Phasing Out Trans Fats

You may have seen this recently in the news.  The FDA is banning the use of Trans Fats in our food.  According to the FDA “the change could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths caused by heart disease each year”.

A brief review – trans fats were created by adding hydrogen to liquid oils in order to solidify them.  In doing so, we created the man-made molecule known as a trans fat.  The name trans comes from organic chemistry and it refers to the position of the hydrogen atoms within the fat molecule.  Bottom line – our bodies lack the enzymes to break down and process these fats, leading to their build up in the body.  This can lead to things like heart attacks and stroke.  New York City lead the way with banning trans fats in restaurants in 2007.

The problem is that now food manufacturers are hiding these trans fats on food labels.  By law, if a food has less that 0.5 grams of a trans fat, it can still be labelled as having 0 trans fats.  So you will need to look at the label – if you see the word hydrogenated anywhere on the label, it contains a trans fat.

In 1994, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the FDA for trans fats to be listed on nutrition labels, however it wasn’t until 2004 that this was finally done.  This goes back to my rule that you have seen posted here – beware of man-made molecules or molecules that are new to nature in our foods.

For more details, check out the article from the Washington Post on 11/7/13 titled ” Trans Fats to be Phased Out, FDA Says” and check out this video:

 

To Your Health!

Dr. Harvey