(25-09-10) Food manufacturers actually did some good by reducing trans fats in their products

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

Contrary to fears that moves to phase out the use of trans fats would just
lead to the replacement of one problem ingredient with another, a new study
shows that the overall level of trans fats in foods has dropped without a
corresponding increase in saturated fat.

"Companies almost always can reformulate their food to have a healthier
balance of fats," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

The CSPI and a Harvard researcher reviewed the fat content of 83 packaged and
restaurant foods that had undergone reformulation since 2006, when the
government began mandating that trans fat content be listed on nutritional
labels. In the same year, New York City imposed a ban on the use of the fats in
restaurants.

Trans fats, also known as hydrogenated oils, are produced by adding hydrogen
atoms to unsaturated fats in order to give them a longer shelf life and make
them more solid at room temperature. They have been conclusively proven,
however, to significantly increase the risk of heart disease and death, and the
body is unable to use them for nutrition the way it can with normal fats.

Products reviewed in the study included margarines, baked goods, and junk and
fast foods. Fat content was determined using FDA databases, nutrition labels
and industry-supplied data.

The researchers found that nearly every product reviewed had reduced its trans
fat content to zero or nearly zero. In addition, 90 percent of restaurant foods
and 65 percent of supermarket foods had either lowered their saturated fat
content, left it unchanged, or increased it only slightly.

Not all products had undergone healthy makeovers, however. For example, while
the trans fat content of Entenmanns's Rich Frosted Donuts dropped from 5 grams
per serving to zero, saturated fat content increased from 5 grams to 13.

And at the end of the day, said David Heber of the University of California-
Los Angeles, there's only so far junk food can move in the direction of health.

"Trans fat or not, a doughnut is still a doughnut," Heber said.

Sources for this story include: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap....
(NaturalNews)

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In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.