14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that people really don't know much about the amount of trans fat contained in the products they eat, and all this because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling protocol and policy, keeps people uninformed.
This is what an article written by Eric Brandt, a Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine student, says.
Brandt explains why eating products that are promoted as being trans fat free, you actually may be exposing yourself to a significant amount of this potentially harmful substance, way beyond the daily recommended value of 1.11 grams.
Ingesting trans fat is a public health problem as it can lead to long-term health side effects, so the top national health organizations (the US Department of Health and Human Services and American Heart Association) advise that trans fats be ingested in limited quantities.
The problem is that the FDA rules are not really helping the population, and the reason is simple: current law demands that fat content of over 5 grams be listed in 1 gram increments, less than 5 grams be listed in .5 gram increments, and lower than .5 grams as containing 0 grams of fat.
So, if a product has .49 grams of trans fat, the label can list the trans fat content as being 0, thus hiding an important amount of trans fat.
And since the limit is 1.11 grams, people would only need to consume as little as 3 mislabeled products in order to exceed it – 3 serving sizes each with .49 grams, totaling 1.47 grams.
And when we know that trans fat consumption has been linked to increased risk of coronary artery disease, diabetes, and sudden cardiac death, this entire labeling process suddenly looks dangerous.
Some may say that 1.47 grams is not a large quantity, but research shows that increasing daily trans fat consumption from .9% to 2.1%, or from two grams to 4.67 grams, will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by 30%.
So, in an attempt to “help the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to maintain and improve their health," Brandt recommends that the FDA labeling protocol is revised, so that it will avoid misleading the public about the amount of trans fat they are ingesting.
The article is published in the January/February 2011 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.