Since starting this blog, I try to keep an eye out for interesting, and potentially chemistry based topics. This weekend I saw an add by Smart Balance, claiming that foods that claim to have no Trans Fat may actually still contain the dreaded substance. So i did a little research.
A couple of years ago there was an health uproar over the amount of trans fat found in many of the foods products in American supermarkets as a result these foods removed the trans fat from there products or so we thought. According to current Smart Balance advertisements the FDA allows products that contain less then 0.5g of trans fat to report 0 trans fat on their labels. This they claim is bad because these small amounts of trans fat can add up and reach dangerous levels, furthermore Smart Balance claims to have the lowest amount of trans fat that is naturally possible(0.07g)(1). Trans fats are fats that were unsaturated fats, meaning they contained at least one double bond, but these double bonds were weakened either industrially or naturally through the process of hydrogenation, adding hydrogen, and many scientific studies show that this fat along with saturated fat can increase LDL, a lipoprotein responsible for carrying cholesterol to various parts of the body (2).
It is true that the FDA has a minimum report value of 0.5g for trans fat(3), and this is because not all fat is bad, unsaturated fats are a necessary dietary component, it is impossible to eliminate trans fat from your diet completely, however there is no research suggesting that there 0.07g is the smallest amount possible. There is also not enough research for the FDA to suggest a recommended daily value, however they do know that the amounts of saturated and trans fat intake should be as low as possible(4).
So, like the Smart Balance advertisements suggest, the trace amounts of trans fat in your foods can add up and because of the disparity between the zero on the nutrition label and the actual amount of trans fat in the product, reading the ingredients label is very important. If you see any ingredients that have been hydrogenated then know that some trans fat may be in the product.
1. www.thetruthabouttransfat.com
2. http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0521-e.htm#transfatsproduced
3. http://www.foodsafety.gov/~dms/qatrans2.html
4. http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/transqa.cfm
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Reading your article got me paranoid on the kinds of food I eat that may contain trans fat. I never really thought much about it before. So I decided to look up what brand name products contain trans fat and I found this:
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/trans-fat-foods.php
This article also points out how the American Heart Association recommends eating no more than 2 grams of trans fat a day. However, there are enough naturally occurring trans fat in some meats and dairy products, so it is very easy for people to go beyond the recommended maximum value. Especially if that person also consumes products containing man-made trans fat.
No more fruity pebbles, chewy granola bars, and girl scout cookies for me. :(
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