From The Spring 2004 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Shoppers Seek To Avoid Trans Fats

From chips to dips, harmful fats permeate prepared foods

Marty Traynor Spencer

In 2002 the American Heart Association released studies showing that trans fats weren’t as bad as saturated fats—they were much worse.

Saturated fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol but they also raise HDL (good) cholesterol. Trans fats, researchers found, raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. In July of last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture passed regulations requiring manufacturers to list trans fat content of their products on the Nutrition Facts labels by Jan. 1, 2006.

Just What Are Trans Fats? Trans fats are manufactured when vegetable oil is hydrogenated—liquid oil is heated while hydrogen is bubbled through it. Hydrogenation prevents the oil from becoming rancid and keeps it solid at room temperature. “The process to turn liquid oil into solid fat was patented in 1903, but trans fats didn’t enter the food supply on any big commercial level until Crisco was introduced in 1911,” says Kim Severson, author of The Trans Fat Free Solution. —M.T.S.

Trans fats, identified on the ingredient panel as partially hydrogenated oils, are found in almost all commercially prepared and processed foods. WebMD reports that the top 10 trans fat foods are spreads, packaged foods, soups (particularly ramen noodles and soup cups), fast food, frozen food, baked goods, chips and crackers, breakfast food, cookies and candy, and toppings and dips. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that “trans fatty acid consumption be as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet.”

“Lipid researchers have been questioning partially hydrogenated oil since the 1970s, but [its] negative effects really weren’t widely accepted or backed up with mainstream science until the late 1980s and early 1990s,” says Kim Severson, author of The Trans Fat Free Solution(Ten Speed Press, 2003). “It also has been implicated in changing how cells metabolize energy and something called metabolic syndrome—or beer-belly syndrome.”

If trans fats are so bad, why are they used at all?

They’re in products because they extend shelf life, says Marc Rosenthal, director of natural foods at Kehe Food Distributors Inc. “Using regular oil may give a product a three-month shelf life. That extends to six to eight months with trans fat.”

Even so, manufacturers are responding to consumer concern, and some shoppers may be looking for healthful alternatives.

Naturals manufacturers offer non-trans-fat alternatives to many products. Annie’s Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies, Newman’s Own Organics’ cookies, popcorn and pretzels, and Country Choice cookies and sandwich cremes are all made without trans fats. Conventional manufacturers are responding as well. Companies such as Kraft, Pepperidge Farm, Frito-Lay and Nabisco are all working to remove trans fats from some of their most popular products: Oreos, Triscuits, Goldfish, Cheetos, Tostitos, Doritos and Wheat Thins. “I applaud these companies for responding to the consumer,” Rosenthal says.

“Consumers are increasingly aware of what’s in their food and are moving toward organics and foods with fewer additives,” Severson says. “They want to eat for health and flavor. Just look at the rise of chains like Whole Foods. Major food companies see this, and they want to reach those consumers. Plus, it’s such a hot topic now—along with obesity—that companies look bad if they aren’t jumping in to say, ‘Hey—we’re responding.’”

If customers want to be sure they’re not eating trans fats, advise them to eat organic.

“Hydrogenation, from the very beginning of the discussion about which methods would be allowed in processing for organic ingredients, was excluded, most possibly because … there were questions about the wisdom of hydrogenating oil and changing the structure of it,” says Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association. “If you buy an organic product, it will not contain hydrogenated oils and is a choice if you’re looking to avoid trans fatty acids.”