{"id":40367,"date":"2015-06-16T10:15:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T14:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=40367"},"modified":"2021-05-13T08:09:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T12:09:54","slug":"news-trans-fat-ban-052815","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/news-trans-fat-ban-052815\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Trans Fat Ban Effective or Not?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No matter how you look at it, trans fats<\/a> are bad for your health \u2014 nearly every major health organization agrees. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced<\/a> it will require food companies to phase out artificial trans fats within the next three years.<\/p>\n

In a recent analysis by the Environmental Working Group, at least 27 percent of the 84,000 foods in their Food Scores<\/a> database contained some amount of the artery-clogging fat. Even more disturbing: Only two percent of those products admitted to containing trans fats on the label \u2014 a problem that may persist even after the FDA’s ban.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> You\u2019ll Never Guess How Many Processed Foods Americans Consume<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Institute of Medicine is pretty clear that there is no safe level of trans fats. You want to keep it as low as is possible,\u201d EWG nutritionist Dawn Undurraga says. \u201cTrans fat is worse than saturated fat<\/a> in terms of heart health because it lowers the good cholesterol and raises the bad cholesterol<\/a>, so it\u2019s kind of a double whammy there.\u201d It\u2019s also been linked to inflammation<\/a> and diabetes, Undurraga notes.<\/p>\n

Why Trans Fats Are Sneaking Into Your Snacks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So how are trans fats creeping into foods \u2014 without appearing on nutrition labels<\/a>? There\u2019s a labeling loophole. \u201cThe FDA definition for \u2018trans fat free\u2019 is below 0.5 grams,\u201d Undurraga says. In other words, a food can still claim to contain \u2018zero grams of trans fat\u2019 even if it contains .4 grams per serving of the bad stuff. Considering that the World Health Organization warns that adults should consume no more than two grams of saturated fat per day if any (and children, even less), \u201cit\u2019s easy for these trans fats to add up really quickly,\u201d Undurraga says.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> How Bad Is Your Food From 1 to 10? Try This Food Calculator<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t have the technology to limit trans fats in foods \u2014 it\u2019s possible to detect amounts as small as .1 grams per serving, Undurraga says. The FDA\u2019s .5-gram limit for trans fats is from 1991, based on the level of detection available at that time. Now, groups like the EWG are calling for the U.S. to catch up to countries like Canada, where trans fat is restricted to .2 grams per serving.<\/p>\n

Despite the FDA’s recent announcement, the loophole that allows foods with .5 grams of trans fat to be considered \u2018trans fat free\u2019 is unlikely to change. \u201cOur concern is that without reform to the labeling loophole, consumers will always be in the dark,\u201d Undurraga says.<\/p>\n

\"How
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to Spot Trans Fat<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Tracking down hidden trans fats can be hard. Found in partially hydrogenated oils, refined oils, soybean oils, emulsifiers (which are often meant to reduce fats in foods) and even natural and artificial flavors<\/a> and colors, these trace amounts of trans fats could be hiding in many processed goods. \u201cIt\u2019s really only the food scientists who know and with such a broad labeling loophole it\u2019s easy to hide in any different ingredient,\u201d Undurraga says.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> What 5 Days of a High-Fat Diet Does to Your Muscles<\/a><\/p>\n

While trans fats aren\u2019t good for anyone, children may suffer the most from exposure to small amounts. \u201cKids need to have nutrient-dense diets; they don\u2019t have room in their diets for trans fats,\u201d Undurraga says. \u201cAnd the fact that they could be getting significant amounts [of trans fats], when parents think they\u2019re feeding them something that has none, is a problem.\u201d In fact, some of the foods identified as the worst for hidden exposure to trans fats are kids\u2019 foods<\/a> including graham crackers and fruit snacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Plus, considering that many of us suffer from portion distortion<\/a>, it can be easy to accidentally gobble down tons of trans fats in just one sitting. \u201cI found a label for Jolly Time popcorn, and per serving it has zero grams trans fat \u2014 but if you eat whole bag you\u2019re getting 1.5 grams,\u201d Undurraga says. \u201cIt\u2019s easy for that to happen.\u201d Until better labeling is in place, use tools like the Food Scores<\/a> database to see if what\u2019s in your pantry carries any warning labels \u2014 or stick to a diet of whole foods<\/a> as often as possible.<\/p>\n

Originally published May 28, 2015. Updated June 16, 2015. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research shows trans fat isn\u2019t safe to consume in any quantity. So why are these artery-clogging fats still lurking in your food? Here\u2019s what you need to know. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":40365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[51,59,251,71,341,352],"class_list":["post-40367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","tag-food-choices","tag-healthy-substitutions","tag-news","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2weight-loss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}