Trans-lating fats - updates

If you eat pastries or fried foods, take note. A long-awaited report from the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine concludes that no amount of trans fatty acids is safe to consume--and these foods are loaded with them.

Frequently used today as a common ingredient by the food processing industry, trans fatty acids, or trans fats, have only been a problem for the past century.

This class of fat is found in abundance in margarine, hydrogenated vegetable shortening and foods that contain shortening--among them, fried foods and baked goods. To a lesser extent, trans fats also are found in meats and dairy products.

Trans fatty acids increase levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol, while lowering levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good" cholesterol. This combination makes trans fats a leading contributor to the risk of heart disease.

In fact, trans fats are considered a greater risk to health than saturated fat, which has long been associated with coronary heart disease.

In 1999, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed that the "Nutrition Facts" labels on foods be required to disclose trans fat content.

But the FDA delayed finalizing its regulations until it could consider the Institute of Medicine's report, which wasn't released until July 2002.

Although the institute could have declared a safe upper limit of daily trans fatty acid consumption, it declined to do so. Instead, the report concludes that the only safe amount of trans fat is none.

But since it would be impractical to eliminate all trans fat from the diet, the institute recommends people consume as little trans fat as possible. However, gauging the proper amounts is difficult because the FDA doesn't require trans fat content amounts to be listed on packaged food labeling.

The Washington, DC-based Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) began petitioning the FDA for mandatory trans fat labeling in 1994.

CSPI Nutrition Policy Director Margo Wootan says, "This report leaves the FDA with only one choice: Require that trans fat content be labeled."

The Canadian government has already proposed mandatory trans fat labeling.

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