TRANS FATS WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE FOOD SUPPLY IN 2018

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that food manufacturers have three years to remove artificial trans fats from the nation's food supply.  The trans fats in foods come from partially hydrogenated oils that are created by adding hydrogen atoms to the unsaturated fats found in vegetable oil.  Partially hydrogenated oils are used to improve the texture, shelf life and long-term flavor of processed foods.

Consuming trans fats simultaneously increases "bad" LDL cholesterol and drives down "good" HDL cholesterol in a person's bloodstream. Trans fat intake contributes to the buildup of arterial plaques that lead to heart attacks. The FDA has estimated that removing partially hydrogenated oils from food could prevent as many as 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease every year.

Since 2006 when trans fats started being listed on the Nutrition Facts food labels, manufacturers have been cutting down on the trans fats in the food supply.  New York City has banned them from use in fast food restaurants.  Foods that often still contain trans fats include baked goods like cakes, cookies and pies, non-dairy creamers, microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, margarine and other spreads, vegetable shortenings, ready-to-use frosting and cream cookie filling and refrigerated dough products like biscuits and cinnamon rolls.

What to do:  Until June of 2018 continue to scan ingredients lists and completely avoid all foods containing "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" and "partially hydrogenated oil".  It is important to look at the ingredients list because under current rules, products that have less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving are labeled as having 0 grams on the label.  These relatively small amounts can still add up, especially as the listed serving sizes on many products are much smaller than typical portions. 

Source:

U.S. Food and Drug Administration; June 16, 2015, news release. Available at:  http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm451237.htm

Adapted from articles available at:

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm372915.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_153098.html