FSB Author Article
Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book Prevention's
The Sugar Solution
by the Editors of Prevention magazine with Ann Fittante, MS, RD
Published by Rodale; September
2006;$24.95US/$33.95CAN; 1-57954-913-6
Copyright © 2006 Rodale Inc.
Give Trans Fats the Boot
At last! Starting in 2006, food labels list levels of unhealthy trans fats, the "Frankenfat" that gunks up arteries and raises heart disease risk. But zero plus zero doesn't always equal zero. New US Food and Drug Administration labeling rules allow foods with less than 0.5 gram of trans fats per serving to claim "zero" grams of trans fats on their labels.
Under these guidelines, which went into effect on January 1, a food with 0.4 gram of trans fats can be listed as having zero trans fats. That means that Americans who consume three or four servings of these foods a day will have unwittingly eaten an extra gram or two of trans fats. And that's important because trans fats, like saturated fats, can raise the risk of heart disease as they increase levels of bad LDL cholesterol.
Currently, the FDA estimates that Americans consume an average 5.8 grams of trans fats per day. Barbara Schneeman, director of the Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements for the FDA, says the reason the FDA is allowing foods under 0.5 gram of trans fats to be rounded down to zero is that current detection methods for trans fats aren't very reliable below 0.5 gram.
So, what's a concerned consumer to do? "If you see a food with zero trans fat, check the ingredient list for the words 'partially hydrogenated.' If you see 'partially hydrogenated,' that means the product contains some trans fats," advises nutritionist Samantha Heller from New York University Medical Center.
The FDA adds that products with shortening or hydrogenated oils in their ingredient lists also contain some trans fats, and the higher up the list you find those items, the greater the amount of trans fats the product contains.
Trans fats are created when liquid oils are transformed into solids, a process called hydrogenation. They're prevalent in many processed foods because they add to a product's shelf life and increase flavor stability. Heller said that most foods containing trans fats are foods you should eat in moderation, including deep-fried restaurant foods, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, and muffins.
Reprinted from: Prevention's The Sugar Solution: Weight Gain? Memory Lapse? Mood Swings? Fatigue? Your Symptoms Are Real -- And Your Solution is Here by the Editors of Prevention magazine with Ann Fittante, MS, RD © 2006 Rodale, Inc. Permission granted by Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098. Available wherever books are sold or directly from the publisher by calling at (800) 848-4735.