THE Food and Drug Administration recently took a step forward in eliminating artificial trans-fat from the American diet.
On Tuesday, June 16, the FDA ruled that trans-fat is not “generally recognized as safe” to be used in human food. The agency said it has made a “preliminary determination” that a major source of trans-fats are partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), and has given food manufacturers up to 3 years to remove the PHOs from their products.
The companies can petition the FDA for a special permit to use it, but no PHOs can be added to human food unless otherwise approved by the FDA.
“The FDA’s action on this major source of artificial trans-fat demonstrates the agency’s commitment to the heart health of all Americans,” said Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the agency’s acting commissioner, in a press release. “This action is expected to reduce coronary heart disease and prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks every year.”
Eating a diet rich in trans-fat is linked to higher body weight, heart disease and memory loss, according to the FDA. It has been shown to raise the “bad” cholesterol in the blood, known as LDL, which can lead to cardiovascular disease—the number one cause of death in the United States.
In 2013, the FDA had made a tentative determination that trans-fats were no longer safe. After several years of public comments and scientific study, this ruling is the final step in the process.
Since 2006, manufacturers have had to list trans-fat content on their labels, and there has been a significant decrease in the amount of trans-fat in American foods.
The FDA estimates trans-fat consumption declined about 78 percent between 2003 and 2012, since the labeling went into effect. That was when many companies reduced some trans-fat content from their products. The law still allowed companies to list products as “trans-fat free,” even if they had 05 grams of fat, which would change with the new ruling.
In 2007, New York City adopted a regulation that banned trans-fat from restaurants, but some places were already ahead of the legal changes.
McDonalds, for instance, stopped cooking their French fries in trans-fat more than a decade ago. Their online menus say all their fried food is free of trans-fat. Similarly, Chick-fil-A removed all artificial trans-fat from its menu in 2008.
Dr. Steven Nissen, the chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, praised the FDA for its “bold courage” and said it “deserves a lot of credit for taking this enormously important move.”
“In many ways, trans-fat is a real tragic story for the American diet,” Nissen said. “In the 1950s and 60s, we mistakenly told Americans that butter and eggs were bad for them and pushed people to margarine, which is basically trans-fat. What we’ve learned now is that saturated fat is relatively neutral—it is the trans-fat that is really harmful and we had made the dietary situation worse.”
First introduced in the US as early as 1911, trans-fat is available in the form of shortening or hydrogenated vegetable oil, and is used for cooking and a popular ingredient in processed/fast foods. PHO is formed when hydrogen is added to liquid oils to make solid fats, like shortening and margarine. It also increases the shelf life of food, and enhances flavors.
American dietary guidelines recommend trans-fat consumption to be “as low as possible.”
“I’m terribly proud of the FDA for stepping in and knowing what needed to be done for the American diet,” Nissen said. (With reports from CNN.)
(LA Midweek June 17 – 19, 2015 Sec. A pg. 5)
