F.D.A. Moves to Ban Trans Fats, Citing Health Concerns
Source: New York Times
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: November 7, 2013
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed measures that would all but eliminate artificial trans fats, the artery clogging substance that is a major contributor to heart disease in the United States, from the food supply.
Under the proposal, which is open for public comment for 60 days, the agency would declare that partially hydrogenated oils, the source of trans fats, were no longer generally recognized as safe, a legal category that permits the use of salt and caffeine, for example.
That means companies would have to prove scientifically that partially hydrogenated oils are safe to eat, a very high hurdle given that scientific literature overwhelmingly shows the contrary. The Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is no safe level for consumption of artificial trans fats.
That will make it a challenge, to be honest, said Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the F.D.A.
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/health/fda-trans-fats.html
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)chervilant
(8,267 posts)"the major replacement for trans fats," nor should it be. This assertion can be construed as a red herring, since most of us who are opposed to hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are optimistic about the FDA finally responding to overwhelming evidence of the danger of these oils. I won't touch anything that contains these oils, and I rarely consume products that contain palm oil.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)but it's a start!
AndyA
(16,993 posts)To hell with the industry--if they weren't putting crap in their food that kills people, they wouldn't need regulations. But they do. I hope this passes, we don't buy anything that has trans fat in it.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Food Industry Ditches Trans Fats, Kids' Cholesterol Levels Drop
By Tom Philpott
Tue Aug. 21, 2012 3:00 AM PDT
"0 grams trans fats." That promise appears prominently on packaging for that classic American junk food, the Lay's Potato Chip. McDonald's iconic French fries? Trans-fat freeas are its Chicken McNuggets.
It wasn't always thus. As recently as 2006, journalist Nina Teicholz could report that consuming a large order of McDonald's fries and McNuggets in one sitting meant taking in nearly 10 grams of trans fats, a "substance considered so unhealthy that the National Academy of Sciences concluded, in 2002, that the only safe amount of trans fats in the diet is zero."
Trans fats are made through a process known as partial hydrogenationbasically, when you add hydrogen to ordinary vegetable oil, it becomes solid at room temperature, making it a cheap substitute for butter.
According to Teicholz, probably the journalist most responsible for exposing the ill effects of the once-ubiquitous, now-scarce substance, "A daily intake of five grams of trans fats increases the risk of contracting heart disease 4 percent to 28 percent."
<>
Teicholz reported trans-fat production was dominated by agribusiness giants Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, and Bunge. These companies ran a trade group called the Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils (ISEO), which "for decades" worked "behind the scenes to squelch bad news about trans fats." Teicholz reported:
As far back as 1968, the ISEO was mentioned in an internal memo written by the medical director of the American Heart Association: According to the memo, the ISEO objected to the AHAs intention to include a warning about trans fats in its dietary guidelines; subsequently, the AHA took it out.
And the food industry, too, actively sought to repress research showing trans fats' ill effects. According to Teicholz, independent-minded scientists examining the topic had to "deal with the tidal wave of industry pressure unleashed against them at meetings, conferences, and events. Their papers were rebutted with unusual ferocity, and their research funding was scarce." The pressures came from the industry's highest levels:
Dr. Thomas Applewhite and Dr. J. Edward Hunter, industry scientists employed, respectively, by Kraft and Procter & Gamble (which held the original U.S. patent for trans fats), were the principal forces behind this criticism. Given that they worked for two food giants, the potential for bias was apparent, but their ability to fund research (as well as their own encyclopedic knowledge of the field) meant they could exercise considerable influence.
With independent science about its health effects virtually nil, trans fats took on a healthy sheen, promoted by a food industry that was happy to have found a cheap replacement for butter that also worked well in deep frying. By the '70s, "margarine manufacturers used the slogan 'Healthy for Your Heart' and marketed the product like a drug to doctors," Teicholz reported.
Meanwhile, damage to public health was severe. Teicholz cited Harvard epidemiologist Walter Willett, who reckoned that "of the half million Americans who die prematurely each year from heart diseasethe leading cause of death in this countryat least 30,000 are killed by trans fats."
The breaking point came in 2002, when a panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences produced a scathing report on the effect of trans fats. Spurred by the NAS document, the FDA had little choice but to move on labeling, which it began to require in 2006. Then came bans on using trans fats in restaurants in New York City, Philadelphia, and California. The drop in trans fat consumption was swifta recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that trans-fat levels in the blood of white adults plunged by 58 percent between 2000 to 2009. (The fats the industry has seized upon to replace trans fats, palm oil and interesterificated vegetable oil, may present their own problems, both to health and the environment, but that is a topic for another post.)
Although a long time in coming, the melting away of trans fats in the American diet shows that progress can be madethat when independent science can cut through industry-induced fog, and when regulators are compelled to do their jobthe American diet can improve. But as the Journal of the American Medical Association article shows, things are still dire. Kids' cholesterol levels are coming down, the article notes, but obesity and overweight levels remain stubbornly high.
That unhappy fact, I think, stems from another practice the food industry picked up in the late '70sadding massive amounts of empty sweeteners to processed food. As the journalist Gary Taubes has shown, the food industry has largely managed to bury a growing body of research on the harms of that habit.
Recommended comment: birdmechanical @ 09:41 AM yesterday.
From: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=205713
Baitball Blogger
(46,671 posts)She died on Christmas Eve, 2004. A woman who had done everything in her life to remain healthy, but didn't have the information she needed to make the right choices regarding trans fats.
Dopers_Greed
(2,640 posts)"Trans fat comes from vegetable oil...so it's essentially vegetable"
"Michelle Obama is trying to ban food with any fat"
"Next they will force us to eat broccoli"
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)I cook with both of those because they taste better. Tell somebody of Italian heritage to not use olive oil? lol I cook myself from scratch rather than eat out, and don't like junk food. Just my individual tastes and not really because of health reasons.
Mz Pip
(27,430 posts)I hope not. I use it all the time.
My doctor said that I need to avoid animal fats; that they are the worst culprit. I have high cholesterol; it's genetic. I though olive oil was a good fat.
ronnie624
(5,764 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)and only use olive oil. I love it. And also I do not fry anything.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)Butter is healthier than margarine.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)RandiFan1290
(6,221 posts)but you should not use either to cook.
bananas
(27,509 posts)proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Citing health risks, FDA moves to ban trans fat from processed foods
By Ricardo Lopez
November 7, 2013, 7:50 a.m.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed a rule change that would eliminate trans fat from all processed foods in a move the agency said would prevent heart attacks and other heart disease.
"While consumption of potentially harmful artificial trans fat has declined over the last two decades in the United States, current intake remains a significant public health concerns," said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg.
The agency has issued a preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, are not "generally recognized as safe." That assessment is based on a review of scientific evidence and expert scientific testimony, the agency said.
If the change is adopted, partially hydrogenated oils would be considered "food additives" and could not be used unless authorized by regulation, virtually eliminating their use in foods.
Food manufacturers would have to prove that trans fat is safe to eat. The Institute of Medicine, an independent agency, has concluded that trans fat provides no known health benefit and that there is no safe level of artificial trans fat.
<>
The FDA said trans fat intake has dropped to 1 gram per day in 2012, down from 4.6 grams per day in 2006.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)docgee
(870 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)This is from a 2009 article,
Pioneer Hi-Bred says its genetically engineered soybean will make an oil that has no artery-clogging trans fats.
The high-oleic oil is supposed to last three to five times longer in commercial fryers than most zero-trans-fat oils.
Americans consume 31 billion pounds of oil a year. Up to 40% of that oil is hydrogenated, meaning high in trans fats.
The FDA has approved the high-oleic soybean.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-04-13-soybean-trans-fats_N.htm
Most corn and soybeans grown here are now GM.
docgee
(870 posts)MissMillie
(38,525 posts)It's listed as 0 grams on the bottle but they confess on their website that it has 0.5 grams.
Honestly, I don't eat a lot of processed foods, and I don't see where a couple of tablespoons of Coffeemate every day is going to kill me.
PLEASE CAN I KEEP MY COFFEEMATE?????
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)If a product contains less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving, the FDA says it can be labeled as trans fat-free.
Pancake mixes
Flavored coffee creamers
Microwave popcorn
Pie crusts
Gravy mixes
Shakes or creamy drinks
Buffalo or BBQ sauces
Croutons
Fried foods
Hot chocolate
Cereal
croutons...damn.
We have eliminated a lot of processed foods from the grocery list for years now.
But still, there are some recipes that I use canned "cream of" soups in, occasionally.
sigh...
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Paint thinners and other things equally nasty. Those things are not food - they are poison, and the trans fat part of 'em is probably the least offensive.
bananas
(27,509 posts)From the OP:
Try protein powder instead.
This stuff is pretty good: http://www.jayrobb.com/protein/Whey-protein-vanilla-packet.asp
onehandle
(51,122 posts)RandiFan1290
(6,221 posts)will start to eat large amounts of trans fats? Maybe by the bucket full?
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)TommyCelt
(838 posts)The Cocteau Plan is coming to pass...
"I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing 'I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener.'" - Edgar Friendly
ConcernedCanuk
(13,509 posts).
.
.
or partially hydrogenated oils are the issues.
natural oils are not dealt with here.
All the suppliers, manufacturers whatever have to claim/prove is that partially hydrogenated oils are not on the menu.
From the OP:
The Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is no safe level for consumption of artificial trans fats.
__________________________________________________________________________________
artificial trans fats
carry on.
CC
ps: I'll have fries with that please - - -
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)or newspaper article content, for that matter. What I found out about news articles, and their "truthiness" was related in particular to the MTBE gas additive situation, but the situation can be extrapolated to many others:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/06/22/540267/-The-TRUTH-Versus-the-Mainstream-Media
oberliner
(58,724 posts)This is based on BS and junk science. Let people eat what they want.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"Let people eat what they want..."
Such as many people believed they wanted prior to Upton Sinclair's writings.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)With conditions as grotesque as during Upton Sinclair's time or worse.
No animals are involved in the creation of trans-fats incidentally.
BadgerKid
(4,549 posts)Maybe manufacturers aren't going to be as "inconvenienced" as people think? My guess is if people wanted to limit TFA intake, then don't eat as many deep-fried foods.
sendero
(28,552 posts).. and I hope they go through with it,.
aikanae
(202 posts)I am convinced the FDA is nothing but a mouthpiece for pharmaceticals. Right now I wouldn't jump at anything they propose for "public health" without figuring out who is going to profit from their decision first. They have undermined their own integritry too many times.