Trans fats have received a great deal of attention the last decade when the scientific community began observing alarming parallels in trans-fat consumption and the risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. This purportedly healthful alternative to saturated fat turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In 2015 the FDA banned trans fats from the food supply, however this ban was not to go into effect until June 2018. Well, the date came and went, and the ban was not implemented. There is now a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales to Jan. 1, 2020. Companies with less than 10 million dollars in sales would have until 2021. It is important to realize there are currently trans fats on our supermarket shelves and may be for the foreseeable future, despite the FDA's claim to ban them. Also, even a product claiming 0 grams of trans fats can still have small amounts (less than 0.5g of trans fats per serving). If you really want to make sure your diet is free of these pesky miscreants, you have to be proactive. Read the nutrient label. Trans fats are not as easy to spot as one might think. A quick scan of the ingredient label on most processed foods reveals trans fats lurking under the name hydrogenated oils. Synthetic trans fats are produced from the hydrogenation of unsaturated fats like vegetable oil. The addition of hydrogen causes the common cis configuration to change to a trans configuration, thus the name trans fats. It is important to note, that there are two types of trans fats. One that is unsaturated and occurs naturally in our foods in small amounts and the other that is synthetically produced and has garnered negative attention. The naturally occurring trans fats seem to be benign in small amounts (which is how they occur in nature). Another reminder that nature and not food laboratories do a better job of producing healthful foods with just the right proportion of nutrients. To keep track of the FDA's ruling on trans fats use the link below. Make sure to read all sections! FDA, (2018, February 27) Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Removing Trans Fats) Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm449162.htm
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Sarah Burnett, MS, RDN, LD
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