Health Tips
The Addition of Trans Fat
Information on Food Labels
Q: My cholesterol
levels are high. My New Year’s resolution is to read labels
and watch for things that can make matters worse. What do the
new food label requirements mean to me? How much is too much
trans fat? How can I change my diet to improve my health?
A:
A new era of nutrition labeling information was
ushered in when the ball dropped on Times Square at midnight
on Jan. 1, 2006. The
Food and
Drug Administration now requires that food
manufacturers tell us when they add at least 0.5 grams of
trans fats to their products. We still don’t have minimum and
maximum standards for trans fat intake because our bodies
don’t need these fats at all. In fact, trans fats cause the
bad cholesterol that leads to heart disease. These new label
requirements will make it easier to compare foods to find the
healthiest option.
Trans fats are a major
contributor to blood sludge. Although they do occur naturally,
for the most part, trans fats are added to foods. These fats
are made by saturating fat chains with hydrogen to make frying
easier. They also help preserve popular snack foods like
chips, cookies and cakes and make margarines, shortening and
spreads semi-solid. Small amounts of trans fats are found in
butter, milk, cheese, beef and lamb. Trans fats are abundant
in junk food and are devastating to our bodies when we eat too
much of them. They work with saturated fat to help form
arterial pile-ups for the 12.5 million Americans with coronary
heart disease. They also lower your levels of HDL, or good
cholesterol.
Be warned, trans and
saturated fats are not the only things you and others with
high levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, should worry about.
You must pay attention to total fat, saturated fat, trans fat
and cholesterol. Here are the basic rules for assessing a
food’s fat content:
- Divide the calories from fat by the total
calories.
- If the calories from fat exceed 30
percent of the total calories, find an alternative item with
a lower percent of fat.
- If the percent Daily Value (%DV) for
saturated fat or cholesterol is greater than 20 percent,
find an alternative item.
- When comparing two or more items, combine
the grams of saturated fats with the grams of transfat and
select the one with the lowest total.
The real answer to
lowering your intake of trans fat is not locked in labels for
cookies, pies and cakes. There is a foolproof way to limit the
amount of these nasty fats in your diet. Eat lower on the
food pyramid. The less processed an item is, the less
likely it is to have trans fats. Add more fruits, vegetables,
whole grain pastas, beans, and high-fiber cereals to your
diet. When choosing animal products, eat fish, select lean
cuts of meat, take the skin off poultry and consume low-fat
milk products. Bake, grill or broil meats, and let herbs,
lemon, tomato and other fat-free spices and sauces add zest to
these dishes. Use the healthier fats found in olive and canola
oil when you must add fat to a dish. As always, be sure to get
at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times each week.
The new food labels
will gradually appear on the shelf as manufacturers deplete
their stock of items with the old labels. In the meantime, be
strategic. Bypass the junk food aisles—cupcakes may be sweet
on your lips but are harsh on your heart. Buy enough fruits
and vegetables to make sure that at least half of the foods on
your plate are vibrant shades of green, red, yellow and
orange. Chances are if you shop the perimeter of the grocery
store you will miss many sources of trans fats. But your heart
won’t.
Related Links:
Keecha Harris is
President of Harris and Associates, a food systems and public
health consulting firm based in Birmingham, Alabama.
By Keecha Harris, Dr.PH, R.D. for MSN Health
& Fitness
