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Based on mounting studies linking the health hazards of “nonlisted” trans fat content in foods, the FDA is now mandating that food manufacturers list the man-made trans fat on product labels--a move that health advocates applaud.
“Saturated fats have been the target for a long time, and it is still a good idea to keep consumption of saturated fats relatively low,” says one of the country’s leading authorities on diet and health, Walter Willett, M.D., D.P.H. “However, when looking at actual risk of heart disease, trans fats are about twice as bad as saturated fats on a gram-for-gram basis.”
Trans fat is formed when food manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats, such as shortening and hard margarine. As a rule of thumb, experts advise keeping trans fat and saturated fat consumption low and replacing them with mono- and polyunsaturated fats, which have health benefits when consumed in moderation.
The following comments on the trans fats issue are excerpts of our interview with Dr. Willett, who chairs the department of nutrition and is professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, as well as professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School.
- “Trans fats elevate LDL (the bad cholesterol) to about the same degree as do saturated fats, but trans fatty acids produce other bad effects, including depression of HDL (the good cholesterol) and elevation of other bad cholesterol fractions.”
- “The vast majority of trans fats come from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which have no nutritional value. Trans fats do only harm, so there is no reason to consume them.”
- “Trans fats are in almost all deep-fried fast foods and the vast majority of commercially baked products and snack foods, as well as in processed foods and most margarines. The consumer can, with a little effort, avoid trans fats pretty well by not eating deep-fried fast foods, by choosing a margarine that is trans-free (even better, using the natural liquid vegetable oil wherever possible), and by checking food labels for the words ‘partially hydrogenated’ or ‘vegetable shortening.’”
- “Small amounts of trans fatty acid are also found in dairy fat--meat and dairy products. We should keep consumption of dairy fat relatively low, if for no other reason than dairy’s saturated fat content is so high.”
- “The total amount of fat is the least useful information on the food label. People should look for products with zero trans fat content. People should also keep the saturated fat consumption relatively low. Unsaturated fats, however, help reduce blood cholesterol and heart disease risk, so trying to keep those fats low is not a good idea. In fact, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in foods such as nuts, fish, and oils help lower ‘bad’ cholesterol levels.”
- “Based just on the changes in total cholesterol and HDL from eliminating partial hydrogenation (which is perfectly possible to do) and consuming vegetable fat in its natural form, we estimated that it is possible to prevent about 30,000 premature deaths from heart disease alone each year. That is very conservative because it only takes into account the effects on the blood cholesterol fractions, and trans fats do a lot more.
- “If we use the epidemiological data, we estimate that replacing trans fat with the original healthy fat might reduce premature heart disease by about one-third and prevent about 40 percent of type 2 diabetes cases, which represents a huge number of individuals. The reason that the numbers are so large is because you are removing something bad and replacing it with something with positive health benefits.”
- “The fundamental point is that while the issue may sound a little complicated, taking 10 to 15 minutes to understand the trans fat issue can add years to your life, so it is very worthwhile.”
Look for more advice on healthy eating and a new food pyramid from Dr. Willett in a future issue.
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