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Trans Fats: What’s the Big Deal, Anyway?
By
Terri McLean
 LEXINGTON,
Ky., (Feb. 7, 2007) – Efforts to eliminate or reduce trans fats
in Americans’ diets have made headlines in recent months. Among
the big newsmakers: New York City, where officials banned trans
fats in restaurants, and companies such as Starbucks that have
taken steps to eliminate it from many of their foods. Closer to
home, Kentucky-based YUM! Brands’ KFC and Taco Bell said they
are switching to a zero gram trans fat cooking oil.
So what’s the story behind these headline-grabbers? A type of
manufactured fat, also called “partially hydrogenated vegetable
oil,” found in a variety of products that Americans regularly
consume – french fries, potato chips, doughnuts, crackers,
breads, pastries, even low-fat cookies.
“Fast foods, fried foods and a lot of processed foods have this
hydrogenated fat in them,” said Sandra Bastin, food and
nutrition specialist with the UK Cooperative Extension Service,
who considers the trend to reduce any fat in the diet good news.
“In my opinion, we all eat too much fat anyway,” she said. “If
we would stay within that recommended 30 percent of our dietary
calories from fat, we probably would avoid even having to talk
about trans fat.”
But people are talking about trans fat. Trans-fatty acids,
commonly known as trans fats, occur naturally in small amounts
in meat and dairy products. But since the 1900s, manufacturers
have been processing naturally occurring unsaturated fats into
trans fats so that they are solid at room temperature and,
therefore, help products stay fresh longer. Trans fats also
produce a different “mouth feel,” Bastin said. “There’s a
different texture and a different flavor.”
The problem with trans fat occurs in the processing, which
involves adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oil or other
natural fat. The result is an unhealthy saturated fat. Trans fat
is thought to boost “bad” cholesterol and decrease “good”
cholesterol and has been linked to an increased risk of heart
disease, obesity and childhood asthma.
”Most of the fat that we eat too much of comes from fast foods
and fried foods, which are often made with hydrogenated fat.
Then we eat a lot of processed foods because we’re not cooking
as much at home anymore,” said Bastin, citing a U.S. Food and
Drug Administration statistic that shows the average adult
consumes 5.8 grams of trans fat daily – or 26 percent of his
calories.
“It’s something we have to think about,” she added.
Bastin and Extension professionals throughout the state
encourage people to read the Nutrition Facts labels on food
packaging to see how much trans fat a food item contains. Since
2006, food manufacturers are mandated to list the trans fat
content separately on those labels.
“I look at this as an opportunity for people to start looking at
the labels and seeing that, ‘Oh my goodness, all my favorite
baked goods or all my favorite frozen dinners or all my favorite
boxed meals … are high in trans fats. Maybe I ought to rethink
how often I’ve been having them,’“ Bastin said.
But she cautions people not to be misled by packaging that says,
“trans fat free.”
“Just because they replace the trans fat, there’s still the same
amount of fat in there, which means there’s the same amount of
calories from fat in that product,” Bastin said.
She also reminds people that watching the amount of fat they
consume is only part of the effort to live a healthier
lifestyle.
“You can watch your trans fats all day, but the bottom line is
still the same: You’ve got to have a varied diet, eat in
moderation and get exercise,” she said. |
Contact: Sandra Bastin, 859-257-1812 |
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of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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