|
Proposed
guidelines put tight limit on trans fats
September 16, 04
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Our
nation’s blueprint for all federal food, nutrition and
education programs is getting an update.
It happens every five years. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans,
issued jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services
and Department of Agriculture, tell the public what they should
eat to be healthy.
The guidelines form the basis for what is served in the National
School Lunch Program and for setting public health goals for
the country. They work in tandem with the Food Guide Pyramid,
which is also in the shop being updated for the first time
since 1992.
The Dietary Guidelines are big time in the world of food and
politics. No wonder: Depending upon which way the recommendations
read, every federal food program in the country may cut back
on or buy more of certain food products and agricultural commodities.
That’s what makes the changes proposed in the draft
of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans so interesting.
If the proposed changes stand, they will mark a major shift
in the recommendations that guide all federal food policies
and programs, producing some big winners and losers within
the food industry.
For example, the guidelines will for the first time advise
the public to steer clear of foods made with hydrogenated
and partially hydrogenated oils, the primary sources of trans
fats.
The report advises limiting trans fats to less than 1 percent
of calories. In practical terms, that means most people should
hold their intake in grams to the low single digits. That’s
next to none, and it mirrors the conclusion of a report issued
by the Institute of Medicine two years ago: There is no safe
level of intake of trans fats. Even small amounts are associated
with an increased risk for coronary artery disease.
Food companies already have been told by the government that
they have until January 2006 to list the trans fat content
of foods on products’ nutrition fact labels. The change
in the Dietary Guidelines will put even more pressure on food
companies to reformulate products currently made with hydrogenated
oils.
And those products are everywhere:
* Packaged foods. Crackers, cookies, pies, pastries and snack
cakes are notorious for their hydrogenated fat content. So
are breakfast cereals, muffin and cake mixes, granola bars,
pie shells, cookie dough, biscuits and some frozen entrees.
* Stick margarine. Hydrogenation turns vegetable oil into
a solid fat that can hold the shape of a stick. Soft tub margarines
are less hydrogenated, but unless the label says otherwise,
they’re not trans fat free.
* Peanut butter. Most brands are blended with hydrogenated
oil. Buy the natural kind with no hydrogenated oils added.
Outside the supermarket, fast food restaurants are a trans
fat minefield. French fries, chicken, and other deep-fried
foods are loaded. At family restaurants, grilled sandwiches,
desserts, pancakes, waffles, and toast slathered with margarine
are other examples.
While we’re waiting for the big trans-fat crackdown
to shake out, be an avid label-reader. Shopping at natural
foods stores simplifies the matter. Most are trans-free zones
with a wide range of traditional products – crackers,
breakfast cereals, cookies, cakes, mixes and soft margarine
– made without hydrogenated oils.
The Dietary Guidelines draft report can be viewed online at
www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines.
Comments from the public are being accepted until Sept. 27.
The government will consider those remarks before issuing
a final version of the guidelines early next year.
Recommendations about trans fats are an important step forward
for the Dietary Guidelines.
Next week we’ll look at where the proposals fall short.
|
