Originally published February 22 2006
Don't assume that fat in foods disappears with removal of trans fats
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The L.A. Times addresses the popular misconception that the absence of trans fats means a food product is low in fat.
Medical experts welcome the new inclusion of trans-fat content on food labels and the removal of this heart-unfriendly fat from many of our foods.
Food labels, even if they declare that a foodstuff contains no trans fats per serving, can actually contain small amounts of the fat.
Nutrition researchers still debate what the best, most heart-healthful trans fat substitutes are for foodstuffs such as pies and cookies that require fats to be hard at room temperature.
A few formulations, in the effort to replace trans fats with saturated fats, have actually ended up with more total fat than they had before.
Some heart and nutrition specialists are concerned that the issue of saturated fats will be eclipsed by the current trans mania.
The company has altered the recipes in about 900 products --- although after 2,000 bakings they have not yet figured out how to make that great pot pie.
"The U.S. is one of the last places to reduce trans, and the food industries outside the U.S. have by now found that most of the trans in foods can be replaced by healthy oils."
The discussion is not made easier by the fact that different fats have different effects on LDL and HDL cholesterol, and other chemicals floating about in the blood --- and that it's not always easy to figure out their net effects on the heart.
Still, scientists appear optimistic that problems, if they crop up, will be caught and adjustments made.
"I guess I'm not as worried," says Lichtenstein.
We can get samples analyzed a lot quicker than they used to be.
Today, there's more accountability as far as food companies go and in monitoring the food supply."
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