FDA to Ban Trans Fat in Some Foods

Agency has opened a 60-day review period to receive input from the food industry and experts as it considers banning trans fat from dozens of food products.

November 11, 2013

CHICAGO — Acknowledging last week that trans fats are unsafe, the Food and Drug Administration took steps to ban the substance from dozens of food products, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Despite decreasing consumption during the past 20 years, trans fats remain a health risk for many Americans, and it is used in a number of popular products from margarine to coffee creamer to frozen pizza. 

"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 concern," said Dr. Margaret Hamburg, an FDA commissioner.

Trans fat rose in popularity as a supposed healthier alternative to saturated fats. But in the 1990s, studies began to assess their influence on health, revealing that they raise bad cholesterol and are linked to higher instances of diabetes and stroke.

The FDA said that further reduction in trans fat consumption could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths a year in America. The agency has opened a 60-day review period to receive input from the food industry and experts. Any ban would be a gradual process over several years.

An FDA ban would focus on partially hydrogenated oils, a major source of trans fat, and would not affect the small amount of naturally occurring trans fat found in some meat and dairy products.

Small serving sizes can obscure the true trans fat content of an item because products with a half-gram or less per serving can state zero grams of trans fat on nutritional labeling.

"If the serving size is small and you eat several servings, the amount of trans fats adds up," said Jennifer Ventrelle, lifestyle director of the Rush University Prevention Center and a registered dietician at Rush University Medical Center. "If you see the words ‘partially hydrogenated’ on the label, that’s the clue that there’s trans fat in the product."

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