Say goodbye to hidden trans fat

 

Feature Articles: Food, Fitness and Health

 

Say goodbye to hidden trans fat

Megan Samson, Nutrition and Health Education Specialist, Boone County, University
of Missouri Extension

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released exciting news — they have taken action to
protect consumers from trans fat. Artificial
trans fat results from liquid oils being
turned into solid fats by the process of hydrogenation. While trans fat can be found naturally in some animal-based foods
like milk, milk-products and meat, most trans fat is consumed
from artificial sources like vegetable shortening, stick
margarine, fried foods, some coffee creamers and other processed
foods that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHOs).
Manufacturers rely heavily on PHOs to give products a longer shelf
life and flavor stability. The FDA has officially determined
that these PHOs are not “generally
recognized as safe” (GRAS) and are now removed from the GRAS list of
ingredients.

 

Why are these PHOs and trans fat so bad for us?

It has been reported that the intake of trans fat is directly
correlated to increased levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or
“bad”) cholesterol and lowered high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or
“good”) cholesterol in the blood. Therefore, trans fat is
considered a hidden obstacle in the goal of reducing the risk of
developing coronary heart disease.

 

What’s hidden about trans fat?

Listing trans fat content on food nutrition labels has been a
requirement since 2006. However, just because the label
reads zero grams (0g) of fat does not mean there are zero grams of trans fat in that
food. If a product has less than 0.5g of
a nutrient per serving, then the label can read 0g. Look for
“partially hydrogenated oils” in the ingredients list and, if
present, then there is indeed trans fat in that food product.
Many processed foods have this small amount of trans fat
that may not be listed on the nutrition label. When consuming
small amounts of hidden trans fat in various
products throughout the day and throughout our lives, it really adds up!

 

When will I start seeing PHOs disappear from ingredient lists?

The FDA has given manufacturers a three year compliance period to eliminate PHOs from their products, which can
require some trial and error of recipe development in order to
maintain product consistency. Therefore, PHOs should no longer
be added to food after June 18, 2018.

 

Tips for understanding the fat content on a nutrition label:

• Look for foods
  with 0g trans fat and make sure partially hydrogenated oils are
  absent from the ingredients list.


• Choose foods low
  in saturated fat — 5% Daily Value or less is low, 20% Daily Value or
  more is high.


• Check the serving
  size and ask yourself, “Is that a practical serving size for me or
  will I eat more than what is recommended? What will my fat
  intake be if I eat more than the serving size?”


• Consider replacing
  saturated and trans fats in your diet with healthier mono- and poly- UNsaturated fats
  such as olive oil, canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil,
  sunflower oil, and foods like nuts.

 

The FDA’s action to eliminate
PHOs from the American diet is expected to reduce coronary heart
disease and prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks each year.

Last update:
Tuesday, May 31, 2016