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Food labels will point out fats that clog arteries

A tally of the "bad" fats in foods should be easier to calculate with FDA changes requiring listing of trans fats.

By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. July 28, 2003.

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Washington -- The path to a heart- healthy diet begins in grocery store aisles, according to the Food and Drug Administration, although patients first might need some advice about what to look for and why.

The FDA is now requiring food manufacturers to list trans fatty acids, or trans fats, on the existing nutritional facts panels on food labels. The trans fat content should soon begin appearing on the line below the already listed saturated fat content.

The rule, published in the July 9 Federal Register, applies to conventional food and such dietary supplements as energy and nutrition bars that contain more than trace amounts of fat. The regulations give companies a Jan. 1, 2006, deadline to make label changes, although some larger food manufacturers already have begun including the trans fat information.

The additional nutritional detail is intended to give consumers a more complete picture of fat content in foods -- allowing them to choose foods low in trans fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, all of which are associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

Nearly 13 million Americans have coronary heart disease and more than 500,000 die each year from causes related to heart disease.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the rule, finalized after more than a decade of work, is intended to improve the health of all Americans by arming them with more and better information about what they eat. "The bottom line is, we're gaining weight and losing life. We need to do the opposite," he said during a July 9 news conference.

"This label change means that trans fat can no longer lurk, hidden, in our food choices," added FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan, MD, PhD. "Our choices about our diets are choices about our health, and those choices should be based on the best available scientific information."

The AMA applauded the FDA action. "Changes in the nutrition facts panel of the food label have proven to be a powerful tool in helping consumers make health-conscious decisions about food purchases," said William G. Plested III, MD, chair of AMA's Board of Trustees.

Trans fat is a specific type of fat formed when food manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats such as shortening and hard margarine. It behaves like saturated fat and raises an individual's low-density lipoprotein, or bad cholesterol, and increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

The label information will help only if people read and understand it. To better guide patients, physicians should advise them to add the saturated and trans fat information on the labels rather than trying to deal with yet another nutrient, suggested Benjamin Caballero, MD, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University. "As far as arteriosclerosis risk, saturated and trans fat are equivalent." As was the case with the saturated fat information, the higher the number, the more dangerous the food.

The good fats vs. the bad fats

Physicians also should keep in mind that Americans consume four or five times more saturated fat than trans fat, so saturated fat continues to be the main enemy, he added.

Food items in the normal diet that are likely to have the most trans fat are french fries, potato chips, doughnuts and cakes that use shortening. Hard margarine is another source but there are several brands of trans fat-free margarine now available.

"Consumers should also keep in mind that foods labeled 'low in saturated -- or animal -- fat' may be high in trans fat, since saturated fat may have been replaced by hydrogenated vegetable oil," said Dr. Caballero.

Patients also should remember that there are "good" fats that do not raise levels of LDL cholesterol. Among them are monounsaturated fats that include olive and canola oils and polyunsaturated fats that include soybean, corn and sunflower oils.

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