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2007-9-3 17:34:10 |
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It is widely agreed that trans fat is harmful to more than cardiovascular health. And many people want to avoid dietary trans fat. So do the state and local government health officials. For instance, health officials of Los Angeles country are thinking to ban use of trans fat in restaurants in the county. Earlier, a few of major cities in the US like New York and Chicago have proposed or passed legislation to ban such use. Massachusetts has also proposed such a trans fat ban. But should consumers count on the governments or restaurants to control their intake of trans fat? A scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.or suggests that consumers need take action on their side. The key point is that you can't absolutely get rid of trans fat from prepared food or processed food. When trans fat is out of the foods, other trans fat replacements may get in, which may not be better than trans fat, according to a recent study. To avoid as much as dietary trans fat, one needs to learn some basics with regard to the use, presence or formation of trans fat in a particular food. First, the FDA requires that food manufacturers to label trans fat on food packaging. But in the meantime, the federal agency allows food manufacturers to claim "trans fat: zero" for food with 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. The serving concept is tricky. It can be big or small, meaning that many food labeled with "trans fat: zero" may actually contain a sizable amount of trans fat. In this case, consumers need to check the ingredient list to see if there is any trans fat or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is used or any generic ingredient(s) with a common name such as shortening that contain trans fat. Also, consumers need to know that trans fat is naturally present in milk or dairy products. The trans fat is natural, but that does not mean humans can handle such natural trans fat well. From a biochemical viewpoint, trans fat can¡¯t be well digested. So those who want to avoid trans fat may consider reducing intake of milk fat. In addition, trans fat may be formed during a thermal process used to cook prepared foods, particularly those with high polyunsaturated fat. So it is possible that even if no trans fat is used to prepare a food, trans fat can still present in the processed food you eat . One last source of trans fat is the vegetable oils. One may ask why trans fat may be present in natural vegetable oils. The answer is, trans fat is likely to be formed during the processing of vegetable oil. To learn how much trans fat a vegetable oil may contain, check the nutrition list. You add all the amounts of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fat present in 15 grams of oil. If the sum is less than 15 grams, then the difference largely can be trans fat. Restaurants can be a big source of dietary trans fat, of course. Many foods are cooked in trans fat even though many major national food chains are reducing use of trans fat in the food they serve. One serving of fries may contain more than 6-8 grams of trans fat. Consumers need to know that other than serving as an energy source, trans fat does not have any biological functions in humans. Experts say there is no safety threshold for trans fat, meaning intake of any amounts of trans fat may have an effect. Trans fat is believed to kill about 100,000 people in the US every year. Note: the article is written by a foodconsumer.org contributor and the copyright belongs to foodconsumer.org. It can be republished without written permission from foodconsumer.org as long as it is published in entirety including author, affiliation, copyright information and the note. |
