The FDA made a historic decision to ban trans-fats recently, although manufacturers have up to three years to completely eliminate trans-fats from their offerings. The ban applies to synthetic trans-fats, not the natural trans-fat found in small amounts in some meat and dairy foods. It’s not often the FDA takes such a stand, which shows you how unwholesome trans-fats really are.
The reason the FDA chose to remove trans-fat from the food supply is due to its link with heart disease, but research shows trans-fats may be harmful for other reasons as well. A recent study showed a link between trans-fat and memory problems, the more grams of trans-fat a subject consumed, the fewer words they could remember in a list of words. Other than brain fog, trans-fat is also linked with obesity, although it’s hard to separate out other dietary factors. People who consume lots of trans-fat generally don’t eat a healthy diet.
What impact will eliminating trans-fat from the food supply have? According to the FDA, eliminating trans-fats, often listed as partially hydrogenated oils on food labels, could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths each year. That’s impressive! The decision was a long time coming. It took the FDA almost 40 years to revoke trans fats GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status and ban partially hydrogenated oils.
So why were trans-fats in foods in the first place? Manufacturers like them because they improve the texture of food and extend the shelf life of processed and packaged foods. At one point, you could find trans-fat in the majority of packaged foods you picked up at the grocery store, including crackers, baked goods, margarine, and frozen pizzas, but many manufacturers have already eliminated or reduced the amount in their products to less than 0.5 grams per serving, the minimum amount that qualifies as “zero” grams of trans-fat, through a loophole allowed by the FDA.
While all of this is good news for consumers and will greatly reduce the amount of trans-fat in the food supply, the FDA has left some open holes. For one, they’re allowing manufacturers to petition to be able to use small amounts of trans-fat in cases where not doing so would greatly impact the taste or texture of a product. So, you can’t count on packaged foods to be completely free of trans-fat, although the majority will be.
The good news is manufacturers will have to get special permission to add ANY partially hydrogenated oils to products, which means the 0.5 gram or less qualifying as zero no longer applies. Without special permission, packaged foods will truly be trans-fat free.
So now that trans-fats are on the way out, what will replace them? Partially hydrogenated oils are unique in their structure and give manufacturers the ability to make their foods taste better and last longer. It’s a tough act to follow. The alternatives may be healthier, but hardly the type of fats you want in your diet.
What Are Possible Replacements for Partially Hydrogenated Oils?
For one, food makers may turn to fully hydrogenated oils like palm oil, a choice that’s better from a health standpoint but not environmentally friendly. Millions of acres tropical forests are demolished, destroying habitats for endangered species, to produce commercial palm oil.
What about other vegetable oils? To offer similar characteristics to trans-fats, oils would have to be chemically or genetically modified, so if you’re trying to avoid GMOs, you might not like the replacement for partially hydrogenated oils. Plus, Monsanto is working on a genetically modified soybean oil called “Vistive Gold” as a possible replacement for trans-fat. Even without the genetic modification, soybean oil isn’t the healthiest alternative, but better than partially hydrogenated oils.
Another approach is to use interesterified vegetable oils, a type of oil where stearic acid, a fat found in chocolate, is combined with vegetable oil to create a hybrid oil with some of the characteristics of a trans-fat. Some studies show interesterified fats don’t have the same adverse effects on blood lipid levels as trans-fat while others suggest they have similar effects by raising LDL-cholesterol and lowering HDL-cholesterol. To make matters worse, in a small study interesterified fats raised the blood sugar level of participants by 20%. Plus, no one knows if interesterified fats are safe long term.
What most of these trans-fat substitutes have in common is they create a type of fat not found in nature and that has not been thoroughly tested to see what the long-term effects of consuming it are. Are we trading one bad fat for another?
Avoid “Trans-Fats” Substitutes
The good news? You can avoid trans-fat substitutes entirely by eating whole foods prepared at home with healthier oils like olive oil and moderate amounts of coconut oil. Where you find trans-fat substitutes is in processed foods and packaged products, which you don’t want in your grocery cart for other reasons – they’re low in fiber, high in sugar and sodium, and contain synthetic additives. It’s hard to say which alternative will end up in processed foods, but it’s unlikely it’ll be one you want in your diet.
The Bottom Line
Trans-fats are on their way out, but the replacement may not be much better. Don’t forget that food makers have three years to completely eliminate trans-fats, so they’re still in products you buy at the grocery store. Read those labels! Restaurants, too, are a source of trans-fats at this point, although some of the chains have already reduced or phased them out. All in all, eliminating trans-fats will only make processed foods a little healthier. Stick with whole foods instead!
References:
Medscape Family Medicine. “Higher Intake of Trans Fats Harms Brain Function” June 19, 2015.
Medscape Family Medicine. “Trans Fats Out Within 3 Years, FDA Says” June 16, 2015.
Wired. “What Food Can Replace Trans Fat’s Creamy Goodness?”
J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2007 May; 1(3): 415-422.
Andrew Weil M.D. ” Is Interesterified Oil a Bad Fat?”
Nutrition & Metabolism 2007, 4:3 doi:10.1186/1743-7075-4-3.
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