US FDA Moves To Ban Trans Fat

UnknowingFool writes "Citing growing health concerns about trans fat, the FDA today proposed measures to eliminate it from the U.S. food supply. While trans fat can still be used, the new measures now place the burden on food processors to justify the inclusion of it in a food product as experts have maintained that there is no safe level of consumption and no health benefits. Since 2006, the amount of trans fat eaten by the average American has declined from 4.5g per serving to less than 1g as restaurants and the food industry have reduced their use of it. There will be a 60-day public comment period for the new proposal."

Vegans need it

[Anonymous Coward]

Vegans have diets that are so low in the LDL (bad) cholesterol that they can be too low. It turns out that you need some LDL cholesterol, or you bleed to death. It is only "bad" when you have too much of it.

Humans can produce their own LDL, but for some people that is not enough and they need dietary LDL. Partially-hydrogenated oils provide that need without requiring a vegan to eat any animal products.

Vegetarians who eat milk, eggs, or fish don't have this problem. But vegans do.

Of course, it is also true that a lot MORE people are dying of heart disease because of too much LDL than are dying of anything because of too little, so I think this battle is up a very steep hill.

Re:Artificial trans fat, not just trans fat.

[buswolley]

Small amounts of transfats can cause a large amount of health risk. Current rules allow food makers to say there is 0.0 grams of transfat per serving if there is less than .5 g transfat preserving. Unfortunately, a diet of 1 or 2 grams transfat daily is associated with all sorts of bad things, and you can easily rack it up by eating a couple servings of foods labeled 0.0 grams transfat. Transfat should be labeled in mg, not g, and reported with at least a precision of 0.1 g.

Re:Artificial trans fat, not just trans fat.

[Miamicanes]

As much as I hate to admit it, you're probably right. It's like food manufacturers have been taking lessons from Linksys and Netgear (release a kick-ass product with top-notch components, rack up 5-star reviews, then quietly replace it with an inferior and crippled second version so you can rake in the sales for a few months before people catch on and start neutralizing the early 5-star reviews with angry 1-star reviews).

Example: ConAgra replacing HFCS with sugar in Hunt's ketchup, advertising it heavily for a few months, then quietly eliminating the proclamation from the label, ceasing the ads, coasting for another year and a half, then quietly replacing the sugar with HFCS & hoping nobody will notice. http://consumerist.com/2013/01/30/hunts-manages-to-sneak-high-fructose-corn-syrup-back-into-its-ketchup-after-2-years-without/ [consumerist.com]